Carnegie Investment Counsel Acquires 183,471 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Carnegie Investment Counsel raised its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2,089.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 192,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 183,471 shares during the quarter. Carnegie Investment Counsel's holdings in Southern were worth $17,635,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Investors Research Corp grew its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Rossby Financial LCC acquired a new stake in Southern in the first quarter worth about $39,000. Elequin Capital LP boosted its holdings in Southern by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $44,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.53.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, hitting $95.44. 3,069,723 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,644,116. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.89 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.78, a PEG ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.38. The business's fifty day moving average is $90.87 and its 200-day moving average is $89.02. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $96.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.10%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

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.