Great Lakes Advisors LLC Grows Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Great Lakes Advisors LLC boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 42,094 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,308 shares during the quarter. Great Lakes Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,465,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Abel Hall LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 4.5% in the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 4.3% in the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 8.0% in the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.44 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $99.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average is $85.88 and its 200 day moving average is $87.13. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Southern Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.