Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY Has $2.17 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 26,409 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 310 shares during the period. Miller Howard Investments Inc. NY’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,174,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after purchasing an additional 52,414 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank raised its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $84.53 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $83.37 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.65. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market cap of $92.62 billion, a PE ratio of 19.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.41%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank raised their price objective 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. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.79.

Southern 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.