Janus Henderson Group PLC Increases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Janus Henderson Group PLC increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 8.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 131,814 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 10,481 shares during the quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC's holdings in Southern were worth $10,853,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its stake 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its position in Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho lifted their target price 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. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Stock Up 1.5%

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, hitting $90.79. The company's stock had a trading volume of 9,610,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,455,715. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $99.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $89.91 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.14. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.64 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

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.