State of Tennessee Department of Treasury Sells 17,932 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

State of Tennessee Department of Treasury lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 4.3% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 403,181 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 17,932 shares during the period. State of Tennessee Department of Treasury's holdings in Southern were worth $33,190,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its position in Southern by 84.9% during the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded down $0.61 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $90.44. The company had a trading volume of 3,442,759 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,479,347. 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 company has a market capitalization of $99.50 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $73.20 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.79 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 3.27%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 73.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price 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. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.54.

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.