Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. Has $194.45 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. lowered its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.4% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 2,773,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 11,573 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Holdings Inc. owned about 0.25% of Southern worth $194,449,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Rockline Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $1,945,000. Cullinan Associates Inc. grew its position in Southern by 200.9% during the 3rd quarter. Cullinan Associates Inc. now owns 76,227 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,933,000 after acquiring an additional 50,897 shares during the last quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $241,000 after acquiring an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC grew its position in Southern by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 14,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,045,000 after acquiring an additional 819 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Apella Capital LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $301,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on Southern from $68.00 to $67.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, January 17th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $74.14.

Southern Stock Down 1.2 %

SO stock opened at $68.73 on Monday. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.76 and its 200 day simple moving average is $68.93. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $75.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market cap of $75.23 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 20th were paid a $0.70 dividend. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.07%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, February 16th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.14%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,099 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $706,526.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the insider now directly owns 28,691 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,007,222.36. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 20,998 shares of company stock valued at $1,446,113 over the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.