Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. Grows Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 68.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 598,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 243,000 shares during the quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. owned approximately 0.05% of Southern worth $49,285,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Chelsea Counsel Co. lifted its position in Southern by 22.2% during the third quarter. Chelsea Counsel Co. now owns 2,755 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $248,000 after buying an additional 500 shares during the period. Anchor Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the third quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC now owns 76,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,940,000 after acquiring an additional 347 shares during the last quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 0.9% in the third quarter. Sculati Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,480,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. World Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 106.4% in the third quarter. World Investment Advisors LLC now owns 11,082 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $999,000 after purchasing an additional 5,713 shares during the period. Finally, Wilmington Savings Fund Society FSB acquired a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth approximately $2,361,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following 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 represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last three months. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE SO opened at $91.07 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.35. The stock has a market cap of $100.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $73.14 and a 52 week high of $94.45. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.54.

Southern Company 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.