Jefferies Financial Group Inc. Has $868,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Jefferies Financial Group Inc. lessened its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 82.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 10,544 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 51,056 shares during the period. Jefferies Financial Group Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $868,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. UBS Group boosted their price target 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. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.21.

Southern Trading Up 1.3%

SO traded up $1.19 during trading on Friday, reaching $89.94. 10,681,858 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,515,872. The company's fifty day moving average price is $89.89 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.25. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $98.85 billion, a PE ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.96 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts forecast 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 will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Southern's payout ratio is 70.64%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.