Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA decreased its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 3.4% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 21,178,566 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 741,841 shares during the quarter. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA owned about 1.92% of Southern worth $1,947,369,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Investors Research Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at $39,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $37,000. Elequin Capital LP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 60.6% in the fourth 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, Curat Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.27 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $92.41. The stock had a trading volume of 1,434,316 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,712,416. Southern Company has a one year low of $79.30 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $101.57 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.06, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $89.85 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.29.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. 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 research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.93.

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.