Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. Lowers Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. trimmed its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 35.6% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 353,358 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 195,006 shares during the quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $29,088,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Townsquare Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 40.8% during the 3rd quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,392,000 after buying an additional 7,694 shares in the last quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its position in Southern by 4.7% in the third quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 213,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,297,000 after purchasing an additional 9,689 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co grew its stake in Southern by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 7,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $682,000 after purchasing an additional 289 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.6% during the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 170,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,303,000 after purchasing an additional 988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 286,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,852,000 after purchasing an additional 3,820 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $91.10 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.34 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.26. The company has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.72, a PEG 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 released 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 firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Southern Company 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.