Advisor Resource Council acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 8,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $800,000.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investors Research Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Elequin Capital LP grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.
Southern Price Performance
Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.51 on Wednesday, hitting $90.38. The company had a trading volume of 5,548,297 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,612,910. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $99.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.42.
Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Southern Increases Dividend
The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. UBS Group upped their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.93.
Read Our Latest Stock Report on SO
Southern Company Profile
(
Free Report)
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.
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