May Hill Capital LLC Makes New $285,000 Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

May Hill Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $285,000.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Benjamin Edwards Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2,078.6% in the third quarter. Benjamin Edwards Inc. now owns 152,675 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,769,000 after purchasing an additional 145,667 shares in the last quarter. Ascent Group LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 6.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,607 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $325,000 after buying an additional 221 shares in the last quarter. Centiva Capital LP acquired a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $232,000. Hilltop Holdings Inc. raised its position in Southern by 4.9% during the third quarter. Hilltop Holdings Inc. now owns 20,555 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,854,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HighTower Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 12.1% in the third quarter. HighTower Advisors LLC now owns 1,039,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $93,780,000 after acquiring an additional 112,132 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $91.82 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.65 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.29. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The company has a market capitalization of $100.70 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.90, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.14%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $91.46.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was 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 owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.