Vinva Investment Management Ltd Acquires 5,636 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 47.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,611 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,636 shares during the period. Vinva Investment Management Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,451,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.00.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.01 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $86.53 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $67.53 and a 12 month high of $94.45. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS 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 return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company 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 of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

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.