1,523 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Acquired by Altshuler Shaham Ltd

Altshuler Shaham Ltd purchased a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor purchased 1,523 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $125,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. M&T Bank Corp increased its stake in Southern by 1.3% in the 3rd quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 162,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $14,697,000 after purchasing an additional 2,056 shares in the last quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.2% during the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 2,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $248,000 after acquiring an additional 500 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 76,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,940,000 after purchasing an additional 347 shares in the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 106.4% during the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $999,000 after buying an additional 5,713 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 0.5 %

SO stock opened at $90.60 on Thursday. 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 company has a 50-day moving average of $89.08 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.31. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.68 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $68.02 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 for 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%. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price 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. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.00.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 directly 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % 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 valued at $4,348,784 over the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.