The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC

O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 12.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 190,609 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 21,028 shares during the quarter. O Shaughnessy Asset Management LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $15,691,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Syverson Strege & Co raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $351,000 after acquiring an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.8% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $616,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the period. Providence Capital Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.3% in the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,381,000 after acquiring an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 15.9% during the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its position in Southern by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.46.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % 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, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $1.22 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $91.34. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,958,810 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,513,221. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $88.03 and a 200 day moving average of $87.35. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. 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.