Destination Wealth Management Buys 2,122 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Destination Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 40.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,122 shares during the period. Destination Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $611,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp raised its position in Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd 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 last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $51,605,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.54.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $91.54 on Friday. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average of $85.07 and a 200-day moving average of $87.00. The company has a market capitalization of $100.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 3.15%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’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 in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % 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 the business’s 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.