Code Waechter LLC Takes $292,000 Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Code Waechter LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,173 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $292,000.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in Southern by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 4,005 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its stake in Southern by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $427,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,815,000 after acquiring an additional 15,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 16,464.2% during the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 31,969 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 31,776 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.35 during midday trading on Thursday, reaching $93.31. The company had a trading volume of 6,686,771 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,702,455. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $89.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $88.01. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $78.61 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $102.55 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.27, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company 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 represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

About Southern

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.