Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado Trims Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado trimmed its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 3.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 146,672 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 4,627 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement Association of Colorado's holdings in Southern were worth $12,074,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Quarry LP grew its holdings in Southern by 41.4% in the fourth quarter. Quarry LP now owns 762 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $63,000 after purchasing an additional 223 shares during the period. Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 3.5% in the fourth quarter. Shorepoint Capital Partners LLC now owns 47,761 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,932,000 after purchasing an additional 1,623 shares during the period. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 10.5% in the fourth quarter. Prosperity Consulting Group LLC now owns 12,394 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,020,000 after purchasing an additional 1,178 shares during the period. Aquatic Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,827,000. Finally, Oxford Asset Management LLP purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $683,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.54.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of SO traded down $0.50 during mid-day trading on Thursday, reaching $91.39. The stock had a trading volume of 5,319,675 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,471,255. 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 cap of $100.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.79, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The business's fifty day moving average is $90.02 and its 200 day moving average is $87.41. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $74.64 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Southern's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business 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 represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.82%.

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.