Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Acquires 6,580 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 29.3% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 29,060 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 6,580 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $2,671,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $889,490,000 after purchasing an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Up 1.2%

SO traded up $1.08 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.71. The company had a trading volume of 2,630,585 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,570,787. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $89.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.32. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $98.59 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.40, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.30%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Southern Company 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.