Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky Has $6.54 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky lessened its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 93,256 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,201 shares during the quarter. Teachers Retirement System of The State of Kentucky’s holdings in Southern were worth $6,539,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 46.3% during the 4th quarter. Cassady Schiller Wealth Management LLC now owns 556 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after purchasing an additional 176 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Atticus Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 30.4% in the third quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC now owns 652 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $42,000 after buying an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Southern from $67.00 to $74.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, May 28th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.36.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $78.65 on Monday. The stock has a market capitalization of $86.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.32, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $80.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $75.89 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $71.80.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

About Southern

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.