Hennessy Advisors Inc. Sells 20,400 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Hennessy Advisors Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 272,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 20,400 shares during the period. Hennessy Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $25,038,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $889,490,000 after purchasing an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $90.22 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.33. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The company has a market cap of $99.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. KeyCorp lowered Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

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.