2,923 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by Armis Advisers LLC

Armis Advisers LLC 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 Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,923 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $241,000.

Several other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $384,000. Blue Trust Inc. raised its position in Southern by 11.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Trust Inc. now owns 56,716 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,115,000 after purchasing an additional 5,904 shares during the period. Crews Bank & Trust purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $364,000. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 172.4% during the 4th quarter. YHB Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 7,440 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $612,000 after buying an additional 4,709 shares during the period. Finally, Level Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $343,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded 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 report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.21.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded up $0.43 during trading on Thursday, reaching $88.65. 3,670,437 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,500,410. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.64 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $97.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business's 50 day moving average price is $89.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.34%. This is a positive change 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.