Garde Capital Inc. Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 4,174 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded up $0.80 during trading on Friday, hitting $89.55. The company had a trading volume of 1,707,183 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,490,083. The company has a market cap of $98.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.23. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.87 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given 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 yield of 3.31%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have issued reports on SO. Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Evercore ISI raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment 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 MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm'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 transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

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.