HF Advisory Group LLC Has $2.31 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 13.5% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,170 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 2,995 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $2,314,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after buying an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $889,490,000 after buying an additional 460,594 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of 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. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.64.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.12 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $88.26. The company had a trading volume of 3,995,825 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,529,041. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.29. The firm has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate 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 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The 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 will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is presently 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.