Wealthfront Advisers LLC Buys 24,962 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Wealthfront Advisers LLC raised its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 18.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 158,505 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 24,962 shares during the quarter. Wealthfront Advisers LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $14,575,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Southern by 23.2% in the 1st 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 during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in 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 buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. raised its position in Southern by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $427,000 after buying an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 16,464.2% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 31,969 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 31,776 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO traded up $0.67 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $94.00. The company had a trading volume of 1,283,123 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,721,220. The company has a market capitalization of $103.31 billion, a PE ratio of 22.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.96 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.43. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $94.62.

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, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Tuesday. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.20.

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.