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

Davidson Trust Co. purchased a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 7,045 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $648,000.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 23.2% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 4.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $427,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the period. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,815,000 after buying an additional 15,923 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $13,564,000 after buying an additional 1,785 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of SO stock traded down $0.18 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $90.97. 3,467,244 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,679,052. 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 stock's 50 day moving average is $89.74 and its 200-day moving average is $87.86. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $77.62 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $99.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price 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.