Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 20,400 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 7.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 272,300 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 20,400 shares during the quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $25,038,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased 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 during the period. Northern Trust Corp increased 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 during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in 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 worth $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $90.22. 5,059,008 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,564,862. The firm has a market cap of $99.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. 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 company's 50-day simple moving average is $89.71 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.31. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.96 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. 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 have commented on SO. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.00.

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.