3Chopt Investment Partners LLC Acquires New Holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor bought 6,036 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $555,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of 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 period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 562.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.14 during trading on Monday, hitting $91.04. The stock had a trading volume of 492,654 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,134,915. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The business has a fifty day moving average of $89.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.58. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.96 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $100.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. Southern's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. 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 report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.93.

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.