Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC Invests $612,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Brown Miller Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 6,659 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $612,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 0.7% in 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 purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $90.22 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.71 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.30. The 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 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. UBS Group increased 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded 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. Raymond James began coverage on Southern in a report on Friday. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average 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.

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