The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Woodstock Corp

Woodstock Corp lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 52.4% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 63,724 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 21,901 shares during the period. Woodstock Corp's holdings in Southern were worth $5,859,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investors Research Corp lifted its position in Southern by 400.0% during the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.64.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.12 during trading on Thursday, hitting $88.41. 3,295,913 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,517,310. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.85 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.29. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.96 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.05, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released 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. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be 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 3.35%. 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.