Aurdan Capital Management LLC Invests $258,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Aurdan Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 3,139 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $258,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $889,490,000 after purchasing an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp cut Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. 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 company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.21.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were 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 of the company's stock, 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. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Trading Down 1.9%

NYSE:SO traded down $1.73 on Wednesday, reaching $88.19. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,217,872 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,503,677. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.64 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $96.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.99, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.22.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.36%. 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.