The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Westpac Banking Corp

Westpac Banking Corp raised its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,700 shares during the quarter. Westpac Banking Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,847,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $315,290,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

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 value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % 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 valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms have issued reports on SO. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $92.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The firm has a market cap of $101.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The firm’s 50 day moving average price is $88.03 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.35. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.12%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 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.