Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. Sells 200,517 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co. cut its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 88.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 27,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200,517 shares during the quarter. Northwestern Mutual Wealth Management Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,388,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the period. Gentry Private Wealth LLC raised its stake in Southern by 2.3% in the 3rd quarter. Gentry Private Wealth LLC now owns 4,991 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $473,000 after acquiring an additional 114 shares during the period. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cassaday & Co Wealth Management LLC now owns 12,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,188,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 28,741 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,724,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Patton Fund Management Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 5.0% during the fourth quarter. Patton Fund Management Inc. now owns 2,556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $223,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Truist Financial started coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Tuesday, April 21st. They set a “hold” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Finally, TD Cowen raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, March 6th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.56.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. This represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,973,740. This represents a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale is available in the SEC filing. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $94.20 on Wednesday. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.92 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.81. The firm has a market cap of $106.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.97, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.36.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The business had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.07 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.