Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Teacher Retirement System of Texas

Teacher Retirement System of Texas increased its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 35.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 489,379 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 128,683 shares during the quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas' holdings in Southern were worth $44,998,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its position in Southern by 1.1% in the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $922,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its position in Southern by 23.0% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, Syverson Strege & Co lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have commented on the company. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $0.18 during trading on Friday, reaching $90.97. The company had a trading volume of 3,467,244 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,669,711. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.81. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $77.47 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.98 billion, a PE ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. 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 (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced 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. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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 quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern's payout ratio is 70.64%.

Southern Company 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.