The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Holdings Lifted by Bremer Bank National Association

Bremer Bank National Association increased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 7.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 52,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,622 shares during the period. Bremer Bank National Association's holdings in Southern were worth $4,836,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 85,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,049,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC boosted its position in Southern by 42.6% during the 4th quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,470 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,273,000 after purchasing an additional 4,625 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Golden State Equity Partners raised its position in Southern by 192.1% in the fourth quarter. Golden State Equity Partners now owns 11,539 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $950,000 after purchasing an additional 7,588 shares during the period. Finally, Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 6,646 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $547,000 after buying an additional 3,029 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $1.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, hitting $88.38. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,815,951 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,523,589. 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 Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $89.90 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.28. The firm has a market cap of $97.13 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.04, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

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 the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Southern's payout ratio is 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group lifted their price target 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. KeyCorp cut 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. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.21.

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.