Legal & General Group Plc Trims Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Legal & General Group Plc decreased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 15.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,308,053 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,575,174 shares during the quarter. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Southern were worth $683,919,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $326,000. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Farmers Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 31.6% during the fourth quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 48,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,983,000 after acquiring an additional 11,605 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank grew its stake in Southern by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 237,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,556,000 after acquiring an additional 14,824 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Tidal Investments LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 60.7% during the third quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 23,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 8,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 3.8 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.07 on Monday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.32. The firm has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a PE ratio of 22.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. 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. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.