Prudential Financial Inc. Cuts Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Prudential Financial Inc. cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 599,533 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 102,493 shares during the quarter. Prudential Financial Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $49,354,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of 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 position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday, March 20th. 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 report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $87.73 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 stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.23. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results 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 business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.