Baird Financial Group Inc. Has $23.25 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Baird Financial Group Inc. decreased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 282,375 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 8,325 shares during the quarter. Baird Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $23,245,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 562.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.0 %

NYSE:SO opened at $91.06 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $74.88 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.18 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $90.14 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is 73.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Barclays upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.07.

Southern Company 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.

Want to see what other hedge funds are holding SO? Visit HoldingsChannel.com to get the latest 13F filings and insider trades for The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report).

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.