Advisor Resource Council Makes New $800,000 Investment in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Advisor Resource Council bought a new position in 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 firm bought 8,744 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $800,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investors Research Corp lifted its position in Southern by 400.0% during the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Elequin Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 0.5%

SO stock traded up $0.46 on Friday, hitting $89.09. 10,746,136 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,589,540. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $89.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market cap of $97.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.32%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have weighed in on SO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.93.

Southern Company 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.