Teacher Retirement System of Texas Acquires 156,702 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 76.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 360,696 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 156,702 shares during the period. Teacher Retirement System of Texas’ holdings in Southern were worth $29,692,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $90.01 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $98.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $86.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.24. 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 released 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

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.