Blue Fin Capital Inc. Acquires 180 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Blue Fin Capital Inc. grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 11,685 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 180 shares during the period. Blue Fin Capital Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $962,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its position in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 23.2% in the fourth 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.21.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.2%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.71 on Thursday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.92 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.18. 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 firm has a market cap of $98.60 billion, a PE ratio of 22.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.64 and a 1 year 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. 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 last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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