Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Trims Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 15.6% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 917,274 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 168,901 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $75,510,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% in the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th 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 last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho lifted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $91.10 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.92 billion, a PE ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $87.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.26. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its 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 analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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