Korea Investment CORP Has $69.52 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Korea Investment CORP raised its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 844,558 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 33,847 shares during the quarter. Korea Investment CORP owned 0.08% of Southern worth $69,524,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Syverson Strege & Co lifted its stake in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.8% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. raised its position in Southern by 2.0% during the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 8.0% during the third quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $151,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock 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, Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $90.12 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.20 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.26.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.