The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Holdings Lifted by Townsquare Capital LLC

Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 30,166 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,636 shares during the quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,483,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 562.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $90.97 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.77 billion, a PE ratio of 22.69, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.96 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.29. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.17%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.