Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Holdings Raised by Spirepoint Private Client LLC

Spirepoint Private Client LLC increased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 81,952 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 9,409 shares during the period. Spirepoint Private Client LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $7,536,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Investors Research Corp lifted its stake in 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 buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $37,000. Elequin Capital LP boosted its stake in Southern by 60.6% during the 4th 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 position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays lifted 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 equities 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's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded up $0.43 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $90.78. 5,228,077 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,634,249. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.52. The company has a market cap of $99.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. 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 (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted 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. The company 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 revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Southern's payout ratio is 70.64%.

About Southern

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.