Arizona State Retirement System Increases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Arizona State Retirement System increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.7% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 315,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,307 shares during the quarter. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Southern were worth $25,998,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its holdings in Southern by 31.6% in the third quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 138,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,485,000 after purchasing an additional 33,266 shares during the last quarter. United Advisor Group LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 24.9% in the third quarter. United Advisor Group LLC now owns 3,492 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 697 shares during the last quarter. Hanlon Investment Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the third quarter valued at $202,000. Crestwood Advisors Group LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $242,000. Finally, HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,898 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,065,000 after acquiring an additional 408 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. 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 assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Stock Down 1.4 %

SO opened at $88.64 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $84.79 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.95. The company has a market cap of $97.22 billion, a PE ratio of 22.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 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 transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by 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.