Wellington Management Group LLP Acquires 934,447 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 36.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 934,447 shares during the quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP’s holdings in Southern were worth $247,457,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $39,000. Northwest Bank & Trust Co acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $169,000. Creekmur Asset Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $79,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, EP Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 5.6% in the 4th quarter. EP Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 531,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,267,000 after buying an additional 28,376 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Argus boosted their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on Southern from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, May 28th. Scotiabank lowered their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Bank of America upped their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.36.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $77.94 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $80.84. The company has a market cap of $85.22 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50-day moving average is $76.19 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.89.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.