Dakota Wealth Management Sells 28,428 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Dakota Wealth Management decreased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 16.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 140,381 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 28,428 shares during the period. Dakota Wealth Management's holdings in Southern were worth $12,908,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Investors Research Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Elequin Capital LP raised its position in shares of Southern by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research 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. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $93.13.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded down $0.18 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $92.50. The company had a trading volume of 5,215,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,728,822. 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 $80.26 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $101.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.88 and a 200-day moving average price of $88.32.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous 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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is presently 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.