Jump Financial LLC Reduces Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Jump Financial LLC trimmed its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 31.0% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 21,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,788 shares during the period. Jump Financial LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,790,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $315,290,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 1.3 %

Shares of SO opened at $91.69 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $70.70 and a twelve month high of $94.45. 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 company’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.31 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.33. The company has a market cap of $100.88 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.87, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective 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, Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

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.