Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC

Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 75,353 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,619 shares during the quarter. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $6,929,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.97 on Friday. 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 Company has a twelve month low of $77.47 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company's 50-day moving average price is $89.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.81. The stock has a market cap of $99.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. Southern's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict 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. 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 3.25%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock 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.

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