Quantinno Capital Management LP Grows Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Quantinno Capital Management LP grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 25.9% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,493 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 19,410 shares during the quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP's holdings in Southern were worth $7,779,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% in the 4th 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. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp cut Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded up $1.31 on Tuesday, reaching $90.79. 9,610,821 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,055,754. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.64 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $99.78 billion, a PE ratio of 22.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock's fifty day moving average price is $89.91 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.14.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. 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 3.26%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

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.