one8zero8 LLC Purchases New Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

one8zero8 LLC acquired a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 8,927 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $735,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. Swiss National Bank increased its holdings in Southern by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. 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 analyst reports. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped their target price 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. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley upped their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.00.

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Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO traded up $0.41 on Thursday, hitting $90.01. 4,652,628 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,288,580. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $86.39 and a two-hundred day moving average of $87.22. The company has a market cap of $98.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.20%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.