Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. Cuts Stock Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Oppenheimer & Co. Inc. decreased its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 15.4% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 58,894 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 10,714 shares during the period. Oppenheimer & Co. Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $5,415,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 11,230.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 562.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,679,000 after buying an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. UBS Group raised their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. 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 stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Up 0.3%

NYSE:SO opened at $90.90 on Wednesday. The firm's 50-day moving average price is $89.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.42. The company has a market capitalization of $99.90 billion, a PE ratio of 21.69, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The business's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

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.

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