DAVENPORT & Co LLC Boosts Stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

DAVENPORT & Co LLC lifted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 3.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 93,454 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,194 shares during the quarter. DAVENPORT & Co LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $8,592,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd lifted its position in Southern by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui DS Asset Management Company Ltd now owns 154,828 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $14,236,000 after acquiring an additional 6,076 shares during the period. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. lifted its position in Southern by 7.9% during the 1st quarter. Astoria Portfolio Advisors LLC. now owns 6,450 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $588,000 after acquiring an additional 475 shares during the period. Mather Group LLC. lifted its position in Southern by 158.2% during the 1st quarter. Mather Group LLC. now owns 22,703 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,088,000 after acquiring an additional 13,910 shares during the period. Smallwood Wealth Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $120,000. Finally, Koshinski Asset Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,341 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,686,000 after acquiring an additional 770 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. One 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 company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.93.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $90.97. 3,467,244 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,679,052. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $89.74 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.86. The stock has a market cap of $99.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $77.62 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is 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.