IFM Investors Pty Ltd Increases Stock Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

IFM Investors Pty Ltd lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 6.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 329,655 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 19,292 shares during the period. IFM Investors Pty Ltd's holdings in Southern were worth $29,728,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investors Research Corp increased its position in Southern by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $37,000. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Elequin Capital LP increased its position in Southern by 60.6% in the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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 decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE SO traded up $0.15 on Monday, hitting $91.66. 3,433,100 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,674,066. The company has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $77.62 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $89.74 and a 200-day moving average of $87.90. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. Southern's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is a positive change 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.