Treasurer of the State of North Carolina Acquires 3,020 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Treasurer of the State of North Carolina grew its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 0.6% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 481,774 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,020 shares during the quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina's holdings in Southern were worth $39,660,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $315,290,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 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 transaction of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on SO. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.00.

Southern Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $0.21 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $91.23. 820,000 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,533,876. The company has a market capitalization of $100.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $88.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.29. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Southern's payout ratio is 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.