Driehaus Capital Management LLC Sells 2,249 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Driehaus Capital Management LLC cut its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 35.2% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 4,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,249 shares during the period. Driehaus Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $341,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its holdings in Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 244.4% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.07.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 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 trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction 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 in the company, 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. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $90.37 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $90.24 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.31. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.64 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.32 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced 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 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 3.28%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 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.