6,109 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd

BlueCrest Capital Management Ltd acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor acquired 6,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $551,000.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. LRI Investments LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the first quarter worth $81,000. Boston Partners increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.4% in the 1st quarter. Boston Partners now owns 880,367 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $63,158,000 after purchasing an additional 68,561 shares in the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 13.8% in the first quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 179,464 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,709,000 after purchasing an additional 21,743 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 68.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,025,000 after buying an additional 5,389 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV grew its position in Southern by 0.7% during the second quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 21,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,563,000 after buying an additional 150 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.15 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $97.68 billion, a PE ratio of 20.73, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The business’s fifty day moving average is $89.72 and its two-hundred day moving average is $85.08.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.47.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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.