Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd Has $12.25 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.1% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 148,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,836 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. CWM LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.6% in the 3rd quarter. CWM LLC now owns 178,379 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,086,000 after purchasing an additional 9,481 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Southern by 15.9% in the third quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 14,610 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,299,000 after acquiring an additional 2,002 shares during the last quarter. Patten Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 10.0% during the 3rd quarter. Patten Group Inc. now owns 6,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $625,000 after acquiring an additional 631 shares during the period. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 6.8% during the 3rd quarter. Quotient Wealth Partners LLC now owns 3,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $312,000 after acquiring an additional 219 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Tobam lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 25.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tobam now owns 4,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $445,000 after purchasing an additional 1,011 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $84.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $92.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.66, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $83.47 and its 200-day moving average is $86.63.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. 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 note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price 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.