Blue Capital Inc. Invests $256,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Blue Capital Inc. bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm bought 3,107 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $256,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. World Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southern by 106.4% in the 3rd quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,082 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $999,000 after acquiring an additional 5,713 shares in the last quarter. Tidal Investments LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 60.7% in the 3rd quarter. Tidal Investments LLC now owns 23,813 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,147,000 after purchasing an additional 8,996 shares during the period. Principal Financial Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the 3rd quarter. Principal Financial Group Inc. now owns 1,351,025 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $121,835,000 after acquiring an additional 52,799 shares during the period. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its stake in Southern by 35.3% during the fourth quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 1,262 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $104,000 after purchasing an additional 329 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB boosted its position in Southern by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,881 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $4,842,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.89 on Wednesday, reaching $92.11. The company had a trading volume of 5,011,328 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,425,702. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.64 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $90.24 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.40. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $101.23 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

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.