7,479 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by Entropy Technologies LP

Entropy Technologies LP purchased a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,479 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $674,000.

Other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. West Branch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $39,000. Cedar Wealth Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 63.2% in the 1st quarter. Cedar Wealth Management LLC now owns 545 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 211 shares during the last quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its position in shares of Southern by 31.8% during the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Friedenthal Financial bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at about $52,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley upped their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded up $1.14 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $87.92. The company had a trading volume of 4,463,920 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,443,138. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $96.33 billion, a PE ratio of 20.22, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $89.86 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.13.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by 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.