Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC Has $8.85 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.7% in the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 107,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 750 shares during the quarter. Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,845,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank upped their price target 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 lowered their price target 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, 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 value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.67 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $85.71 and its 200-day moving average is $87.10. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.35 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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). 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%. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.