Cibc World Markets Corp Acquires 24,443 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cibc World Markets Corp boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 16.5% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 172,816 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 24,443 shares during the quarter. Cibc World Markets Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $14,226,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.2 %

SO opened at $90.57 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $86.07 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.18. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $99.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.59, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.