B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG Boosts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.1% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 61,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,412 shares during the quarter. B. Metzler seel. Sohn & Co. AG’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,089,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Southern by 12.7% during the fourth quarter. Summit Financial LLC now owns 57,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,747,000 after acquiring an additional 6,483 shares during the last quarter. Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Everstar Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $871,000. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 12.4% during the fourth quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC now owns 190,609 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,691,000 after buying an additional 21,028 shares in the last quarter. Finally, United Bank grew its stake in Southern by 7.8% during the fourth quarter. United Bank now owns 55,656 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,582,000 after buying an additional 4,032 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

NYSE:SO opened at $91.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.27. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $100.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’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 value 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. This trade represents a 52.35 % 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 quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.