7,045 Shares in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Acquired by Davidson Trust Co.

Davidson Trust Co. bought a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 7,045 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 562.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group increased 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. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock traded down $0.20 on Monday, hitting $91.31. The company had a trading volume of 236,272 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,661,754. The stock has a market cap of $100.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.81, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $89.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.90. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $77.62 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.