Cullen Investment Group LTD. Boosts Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cullen Investment Group LTD. grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 217.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 68,223 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 46,756 shares during the quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD.'s holdings in Southern were worth $6,273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO traded down $0.52 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $89.48. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,257,026 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,503,104. The company has a market cap of $98.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.30, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.89 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.25. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.96 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.31%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.21.

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.