Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP Purchases New Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Occudo Quantitative Strategies LP bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 14,201 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $1,169,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.12 during midday trading on Monday, reaching $89.09. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,190,969 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,420,237. The business's 50 day moving average price is $89.90 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.13. The company has a market cap of $97.91 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.64 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.21.

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.