Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Raises Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2.7% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,440,982 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 64,328 shares during the quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned 0.22% of Southern worth $200,943,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 84.9% in 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 period. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake 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 buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired 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.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

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 directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now 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 a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.8 %

Southern stock opened at $91.85 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $101.05 billion, a PE ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $72.11 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.48 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.30.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Research 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 issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is 71.82%.

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.

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