Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Bessemer Group Inc.

Bessemer Group Inc. cut its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 47.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 24,308 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 22,193 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $2,235,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised 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 valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,815,000 after buying an additional 15,923 shares during the period. M&T Bank Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,564,000 after buying an additional 1,785 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 16,464.2% during the 4th 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, Farther Finance Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 13.0% during the 4th quarter. Farther Finance Advisors LLC now owns 25,007 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,059,000 after buying an additional 2,879 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $90.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $89.69 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.55. The stock has a market cap of $99.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during 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 firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given 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 3.26%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average 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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