Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $9.34 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 133,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,500 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $9,338,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after buying an additional 352,023 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,857 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Southern by 1.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $694,953,000 after purchasing an additional 163,986 shares during the period. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in Southern by 3.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after buying an additional 349,122 shares during the period. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $74.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $72.15 on Monday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $75.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $69.02 and its 200 day moving average is $69.12. The stock has a market cap of $78.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.49.

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

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.