Davidson Trust Co. Makes New $648,000 Investment in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Davidson Trust Co. bought a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 7,045 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its position in Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Southern by 11,230.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Southern by 562.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 0.2%

NYSE SO traded up $0.15 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $91.66. 3,433,100 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,674,066. 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 company has a market cap of $100.74 billion, a PE ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. The company's 50-day simple moving average is $89.74 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.90. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $77.62 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp cut Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price 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. 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 stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.93.

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.