Convergence Investment Partners LLC Takes $529,000 Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Convergence Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 5,750 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $529,000.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Investors Research Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Elequin Capital LP boosted its holdings in Southern by 60.6% in the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $44,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 15th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.53.

Southern Stock Up 0.5%

SO stock traded up $0.44 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $95.44. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,069,723 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,644,116. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $96.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $90.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $89.02.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

About Southern

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.