New York State Teachers Retirement System Reduces Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

New York State Teachers Retirement System decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.5% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 907,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 32,763 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned 0.08% of Southern worth $74,736,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.4% during the 3rd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 368,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,245,000 after purchasing an additional 12,011 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. now owns 18,557 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,673,000 after purchasing an additional 453 shares during the period. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 17.0% during the 3rd quarter. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC now owns 12,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,114,000 after purchasing an additional 1,795 shares during the period. Kaydan Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $285,000. Finally, Kowal Investment Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Kowal Investment Group LLC now owns 9,496 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $856,000 after purchasing an additional 340 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $86.79 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $83.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.77. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared 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. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price target 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. Finally, Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern 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.