Capula Management Ltd Takes Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Capula Management Ltd bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm bought 6,074 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $500,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its stake in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth 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 period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.00.

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Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm'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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:SO traded up $0.91 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $89.80. 4,021,990 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,559,665. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week 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. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.50 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.39, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $88.67 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.25.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

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.