Sentry LLC Has $651,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sentry LLC grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 71.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,081 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,958 shares during the period. Sentry LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $651,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $292,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,785 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 16,464.2% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 31,969 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,632,000 after buying an additional 31,776 shares during the period. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 129.9% during the fourth quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,042 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 10,194 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lifted 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. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.00.

Southern Trading Down 1.6%

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $1.47 during trading on Monday, hitting $88.88. 5,372,782 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,568,094. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $89.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued 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 yield of 3.33%. 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.