Norges Bank Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 10,301,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $848,019,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its holdings in Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its position in Southern by 15.9% during the 4th 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. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 8.0% during the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $90.12 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.47, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $87.20 and a 200 day moving average of $87.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Southern Company 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.