4,491 Shares in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Bought by Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors Inc.

Rainey & Randall Wealth Advisors Inc. 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 4,491 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $413,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. TruNorth Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southern by 71.4% during the 1st quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC now owns 934 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $86,000 after buying an additional 389 shares during the last quarter. Q3 Asset Management purchased a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $237,000. Platform Technology Partners grew its stake in Southern by 3.9% during the 1st quarter. Platform Technology Partners now owns 3,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $356,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. Arizona State Retirement System grew its holdings in Southern by 1.8% during the first quarter. Arizona State Retirement System now owns 321,553 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,567,000 after acquiring an additional 5,735 shares during the period. Finally, Realta Investment Advisors acquired a new stake in Southern during the first quarter worth about $200,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of SO stock traded up $0.18 on Monday, hitting $92.84. The stock had a trading volume of 2,847,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,706,858. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.03 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.15, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $79.30 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company's 50 day moving average price is $89.82 and its 200-day moving average price is $88.22.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.19%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

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.