National Pension Service Acquires 59,195 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

National Pension Service boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2.9% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,085,865 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 59,195 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service owned approximately 0.19% of Southern worth $146,261,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,444,343,000 after purchasing an additional 352,023 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after buying an additional 1,838,857 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $694,953,000 after acquiring an additional 163,986 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its position in Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Bank of America lifted their target price on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of "Moderate Buy" and an average target price of $74.71.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Southern stock traded up $0.68 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $77.63. 6,695,041 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,845,418. The stock's 50 day simple moving average is $70.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.82. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $84.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.06, a PEG ratio of 4.75 and a beta of 0.48. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $77.77.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 19,126 shares of company stock valued at $1,364,115. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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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