Cozad Asset Management Inc. Buys 239 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cozad Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,350 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 239 shares during the quarter. Cozad Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $440,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Finally, Amundi lifted its position in Southern by 11.4% during the 4th quarter. Amundi now owns 2,780,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $230,807,000 after purchasing an additional 284,022 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions 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 shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.22 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $98.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $86.26 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.21. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment 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 MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

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.