LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. Grows Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

LGT Fund Management Co Ltd. grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 47.9% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 6,795 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,200 shares during the quarter. LGT Fund Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $559,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its stake 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 purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd 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 last quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $51,605,000. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 12,791.7% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 291,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,037,000 after buying an additional 289,731 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.54.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $90.77 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $84.54 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.92. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $66.62 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $99.56 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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 net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.