The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Insigneo Advisory Services LLC

Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lessened its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 49.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,147 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,113 shares during the quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $259,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $315,290,000. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 562.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, 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 value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.2 %

NYSE:SO traded up $0.14 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $91.27. 815,958 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,490,289. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $72.11 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $100.41 billion, a PE ratio of 22.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.59 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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 is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised 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. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued 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 issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.54.

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.