Kanawha Capital Management LLC Has $10.65 Million Stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Kanawha Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,857 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 2,923 shares during the period. Kanawha Capital Management LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $10,653,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake 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 buying an additional 4,005 shares in the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the period. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of 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 report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded down $1.32 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $90.98. The company had a trading volume of 6,437,000 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,654,024. The company has a market capitalization of $99.99 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $77.00 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.68.

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. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.25%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio 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.