Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $1.56 Million Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Ritholtz Wealth Management grew its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 25.6% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 16,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,461 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Southern were worth $1,560,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 23.0% during the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.9% during the first quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its stake in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Southern by 0.4% during the first quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 32,454 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,984,000 after buying an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Evercore ISI lifted their price target 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. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.00 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $88.42. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,189,660 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,578,093. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $89.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.30. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations 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 period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.35%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 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.