Annex Advisory Services LLC Buys 57,080 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Annex Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 1,629.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 60,584 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 57,080 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $5,571,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vest Financial LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 42.6% in the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,470 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,273,000 after acquiring an additional 4,625 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 83.7% during the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 6,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,029 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,815,000 after acquiring an additional 15,923 shares during the period. Finally, Platform Technology Partners raised its position in shares of Southern by 8.7% in the 4th quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 3,727 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $307,000 after acquiring an additional 299 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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 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 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the company. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI raised their price objective 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 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.64.

Southern Stock Down 0.1%

SO traded down $0.12 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $88.26. 3,995,825 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,529,042. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year 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. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.00 billion, a PE ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.77 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.29.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is presently 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.