TCW Group Inc. Raises Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

TCW Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.5% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 15,305 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 377 shares during the period. TCW Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,260,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after purchasing an additional 52,414 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $88.94 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.99 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $83.84 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm 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%. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.54.

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.