Trust Point Inc. Sells 3,693 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Trust Point Inc. trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 28.5% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 9,266 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,693 shares during the period. Trust Point Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $852,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 562.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $90.22 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.30. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $99.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James started coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.

About Southern

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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