The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Tower Research Capital LLC TRC

Tower Research Capital LLC TRC lifted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 9.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 69,986 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,178 shares during the quarter. Tower Research Capital LLC TRC's holdings in Southern were worth $5,761,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after buying an additional 528,870 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $543,288,000 after buying an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Finally, Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday. Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Nine analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.54.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, 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. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.61 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $91.25. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,214,536 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,504,810. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm's fifty day moving average price is $89.59 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.33. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $72.11 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $100.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.76, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

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 analysts' consensus estimates 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 analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

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.