Armis Advisers LLC Acquires Shares of 2,923 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Armis Advisers LLC acquired a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 2,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $344,000. Wilkins Miller Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $607,000. Hall Capital Management Co. Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $288,000. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 5.4% in the 4th quarter. Great Valley Advisor Group Inc. now owns 66,948 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,511,000 after purchasing an additional 3,456 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriflex Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $82,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.21.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value 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. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.3%

SO traded up $1.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $89.94. 10,681,858 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,515,872. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year 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 $98.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $89.89 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.24.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The 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 will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

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.