4,174 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by Garde Capital Inc.

Garde Capital Inc. acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 4,174 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $344,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. Renaissance Technologies LLC boosted its position in Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its position in Southern by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $428,794,000 after acquiring an additional 979,756 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.21.

Southern Stock Up 0.9%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.66 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $89.87 and its 200-day moving average is $87.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.64 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Southern’s payout ratio is 70.64%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.