Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co Acquires 45,500 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 40.8% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 157,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 45,500 shares during the quarter. Ilmarinen Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,924,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. 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. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $89.07 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $88.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.34.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have commented on SO shares. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted 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. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

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.