The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.3% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 291,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 867 shares during the period. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $23,974,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the third quarter valued at $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 94.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Up 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $88.94 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.99 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $97.45 billion, a PE ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $83.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.84.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SO. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.