Vise Technologies Inc. Has $1.47 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Vise Technologies Inc. grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 139.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 17,810 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 10,357 shares during the period. Vise Technologies Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $1,466,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in shares of 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 period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO traded up $0.27 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $89.91. 4,316,685 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,494,572. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $89.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.20. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.82 billion, a PE ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.64 and a 1-year 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.29%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Southern 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.