Gateway Wealth Partners LLC Buys Shares of 4,429 Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Gateway Wealth Partners LLC bought a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund bought 4,429 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $407,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Southern by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $889,490,000 after purchasing an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position in Southern by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $428,794,000 after purchasing an additional 979,756 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. KeyCorp downgraded 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. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Evercore ISI boosted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One investment 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. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.13.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded down $0.18 on Tuesday, reaching $92.50. The company had a trading volume of 5,215,098 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,726,371. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $79.30 and a 1 year 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. The company's fifty day moving average is $89.85 and its 200 day moving average is $88.29. The company has a market cap of $101.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.08, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued 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. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. 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.