Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC Acquires 9,434 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 158.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 15,398 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 9,434 shares during the period. Southern accounts for approximately 0.4% of Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC's holdings, making the stock its 23rd largest position. Sherbrooke Park Advisers LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $1,268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Raiffeisen Bank International AG bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $171,000. Resolution Capital Ltd boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 17.0% during the fourth quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd now owns 58,652 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,828,000 after acquiring an additional 8,505 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 19.0% during the fourth quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 190,418 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $15,675,000 after acquiring an additional 30,421 shares during the period. Quantinno Capital Management LP boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 25.9% during the fourth quarter. Quantinno Capital Management LP now owns 94,493 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,779,000 after acquiring an additional 19,410 shares during the period. Finally, Pathstone Holdings LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.9% during the fourth quarter. Pathstone Holdings LLC now owns 131,677 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,840,000 after acquiring an additional 2,467 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded up $1.31 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $90.79. 9,610,871 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,455,715. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.64 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $99.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a PEG 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.91 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.14.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced 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. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued 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 dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction 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 approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.21.

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.