Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC Lowers Stock Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC lessened its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 5.7% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 90,635 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 5,433 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $8,334,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Investors Research Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Elequin Capital LP lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 60.6% in the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after acquiring 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 valued at $44,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Evercore ISI increased their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Up 0.3%

Southern stock traded up $0.23 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $90.90. The stock had a trading volume of 4,558,023 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,594,667. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.39. The company has a market capitalization of $99.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders 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 3.26%. Southern's payout ratio 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.