37,400 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by Two Sigma Advisers LP

Two Sigma Advisers LP purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 37,400 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,079,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Texas Bank & Trust Co purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $888,000. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. raised its position in Southern by 23.3% in the fourth quarter. Strategic Wealth Partners Ltd. now owns 12,419 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,078,000 after purchasing an additional 2,346 shares during the period. Sagefield Capital LP raised its position in Southern by 13.2% in the fourth quarter. Sagefield Capital LP now owns 132,820 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,934,000 after purchasing an additional 15,527 shares during the period. Second Line Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 12.7% in the fourth quarter. Second Line Capital LLC now owns 11,973 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $986,000 after purchasing an additional 1,348 shares during the period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. raised its position in Southern by 52.1% in the fourth quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 8,366 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $689,000 after purchasing an additional 2,865 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 brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. KeyCorp cut 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. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.21.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.43 on Thursday, hitting $88.65. The stock had a trading volume of 3,670,437 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,500,410. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.64 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a market cap of $97.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company's 50 day moving average price is $89.85 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.23.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS 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 return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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 will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

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.