The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by NEOS Investment Management LLC

NEOS Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 31.6% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 67,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 16,076 shares during the period. NEOS Investment Management LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $5,515,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its position in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 244.4% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 0.0 %

SO stock traded down $0.02 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, reaching $91.94. The company had a trading volume of 1,205,278 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,490,368. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.51 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.27. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $100.83 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.93, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

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Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.13%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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 owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho raised 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. Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $91.46.

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.