4,456 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Purchased by Trilogy Capital Inc.

Trilogy Capital Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor acquired 4,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $320,000.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its position in shares of Southern by 14.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 107,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,959,000 after buying an additional 13,490 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at about $579,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its position in shares of Southern by 8.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,691 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $433,000 after buying an additional 513 shares during the period. Jones Financial Companies Lllp increased its position in shares of Southern by 9.9% during the third quarter. Jones Financial Companies Lllp now owns 4,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $282,000 after buying an additional 392 shares during the period. Finally, Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 3.1% during the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $316,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank dropped their price target 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.14.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.47 on Friday, hitting $77.57. 6,226,973 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,873,369. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $80.84. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.58 and a 200-day simple moving average of $72.28. The company has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

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