GF Fund Management CO. LTD. Buys Shares of 79,471 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

GF Fund Management CO. LTD. acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 79,471 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $6,542,000.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. WCG Wealth Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $823,000. Neo Ivy Capital Management acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $3,734,000. Vise Technologies Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 139.0% in the fourth quarter. Vise Technologies Inc. now owns 17,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,466,000 after buying an additional 10,357 shares during the last quarter. Blue Fin Capital Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Blue Fin Capital Inc. now owns 11,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $962,000 after acquiring an additional 180 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd grew its stake in shares of Southern by 139.0% during the fourth quarter. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd now owns 19,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,564,000 after acquiring an additional 11,050 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.21.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were 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. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $89.66 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $89.87 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.19. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.64 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $98.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

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

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.