The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Davis Capital Management

Davis Capital Management lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 23.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 9,316 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 2,885 shares during the quarter. Davis Capital Management's holdings in Southern were worth $857,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings 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 buying an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective 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. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.64.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded down $0.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $88.26. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,995,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,530,315. 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 fifty day simple moving average of $89.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.29. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates 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 last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The business's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, 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 this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.