Magellan Asset Management Ltd Has $27.22 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Magellan Asset Management Ltd decreased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 17.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 330,621 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 72,215 shares during the quarter. Magellan Asset Management Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $27,217,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Uniting Wealth Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $295,000. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 1.3% in the 4th quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,451 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,514,000 after buying an additional 242 shares in the last quarter. World Investment Advisors increased its position in Southern by 93.4% in the 4th quarter. World Investment Advisors now owns 21,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,764,000 after buying an additional 10,348 shares in the last quarter. Westpac Banking Corp raised its stake in Southern by 13.7% during the 4th quarter. Westpac Banking Corp now owns 22,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,847,000 after buying an additional 2,700 shares during the period. Finally, OneAscent Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 25.0% in the fourth quarter. OneAscent Financial Services LLC now owns 7,990 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $658,000 after acquiring an additional 1,600 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value 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 represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $91.42 on Thursday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $87.83 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.31. 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 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.80, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, analysts anticipate 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 paid 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 3.15%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Southern 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.