Nepsis Inc. Sells 3,696 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Nepsis Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 44,393 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,696 shares during the period. Southern accounts for about 1.0% of Nepsis Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 25th largest position. Nepsis Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,082,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Investors Research Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $37,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Finally, Elequin Capital LP boosted its stake in Southern by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Trading Up 0.3%

SO opened at $88.51 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.64 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.28. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.34%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.64.

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.