Caxton Associates LP Purchases New Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Caxton Associates LP acquired a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund acquired 48,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,766,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vista Capital Partners Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $678,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,352 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $493,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.0% in the 2nd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 131 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company's stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 over the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a "hold" rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $86.60.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded down $0.36 on Wednesday, hitting $89.37. The stock had a trading volume of 3,457,200 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,474,449. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $90.85. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $97.72 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.05, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.52. The company's 50-day moving average is $86.58 and its two-hundred day moving average is $79.25.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business's revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

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.