Calton & Associates Inc. Purchases Shares of 47,663 Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Calton & Associates Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 47,663 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $4,383,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in Southern by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.4% during the 4th quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 49,401 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,067,000 after purchasing an additional 1,640 shares in the last quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd boosted its position in shares of Southern by 47.1% during the 4th quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 17,611 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,451,000 after purchasing an additional 5,636 shares in the last quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1,799.2% during the 4th quarter. Harvest Fund Management Co. Ltd now owns 2,279 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $188,000 after purchasing an additional 2,159 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Teacher Retirement System of Texas boosted its position in shares of Southern by 76.8% during the 4th quarter. Teacher Retirement System of Texas now owns 360,696 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,692,000 after purchasing an additional 156,702 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of 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 equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.20.

Southern Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of SO stock traded up $0.77 on Friday, reaching $94.10. 4,197,840 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,747,839. The stock has a market cap of $103.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $94.63. 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 stock has a 50 day moving average price of $90.04 and a 200 day moving average price of $88.55.

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. The company 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 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.15%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

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.