Farther Finance Advisors LLC Purchases 15,584 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Farther Finance Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 62.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 40,591 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 15,584 shares during the period. Farther Finance Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $3,727,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co lifted its holdings in Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.00.

Southern Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.14 on Friday, hitting $90.22. The company had a trading volume of 5,059,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,556,378. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.96 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a 50-day moving average of $89.65 and a 200-day moving average of $87.32.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

Southern Profile

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.