The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Nuveen Asset Management LLC

Nuveen Asset Management LLC decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 11.4% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 5,489,536 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 708,498 shares during the quarter. Nuveen Asset Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $451,899,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $326,000. Verity & Verity LLC increased its stake in Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 9.4% in the fourth quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 292,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,095,000 after purchasing an additional 25,200 shares during the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC increased its stake in Southern by 10.2% in the fourth quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 89,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,363,000 after purchasing an additional 8,261 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $384,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.07.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $85.16 on Thursday. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $90.03 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.22. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.64 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $93.60 billion, a PE ratio of 21.24, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

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.