The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Reduced by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 11.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,489,536 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 708,498 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC owned 0.50% of Southern worth $451,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $35,000. WFA Asset Management Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. raised its holdings 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 worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group boosted their price objective 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. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE SO traded up $0.64 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $90.12. 1,775,583 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,973,399. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.91 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.14. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.04 billion, a PE ratio of 22.47, a PEG 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 company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid 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 yield of 3.28%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $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 accessible through the SEC website. 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 owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.