Fisher Asset Management LLC Has $9.41 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fisher Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 114,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,928 shares during the period. Fisher Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $9,408,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.5% in the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 303,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,567,000 after purchasing an additional 7,527 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. boosted its stake in Southern by 31.6% during the 3rd 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 period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. grew its holdings in Southern by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 487,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,957,000 after buying an additional 7,460 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 28.2% in the 3rd quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,167,000 after buying an additional 27,226 shares during the period. Finally, PDS Planning Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 24.2% during the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 3,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $335,000 after buying an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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 owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 16,835 shares of company stock valued at $1,451,754. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Trading Down 1.0 %

SO stock opened at $89.95 on Wednesday. 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 cap of $98.65 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The business’s 50 day moving average is $84.68 and its 200-day moving average is $86.94.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given 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 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

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.