Sagefield Capital LP Acquires 15,527 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sagefield Capital LP increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 13.2% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 132,820 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 15,527 shares during the period. Southern accounts for 1.2% of Sagefield Capital LP's holdings, making the stock its 19th biggest holding. Sagefield Capital LP's holdings in Southern were worth $10,934,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 562.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,679,000 after buying an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company'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 transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible 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 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 directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

SO traded up $1.31 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $90.79. The company had a trading volume of 9,610,871 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,461,606. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. 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 Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.64 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.14.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm 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 company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of 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. One 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. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.21.

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.