The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Vest Financial LLC

Vest Financial LLC lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 73.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 26,838 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 11,368 shares during the quarter. Vest Financial LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $2,468,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Syverson Strege & Co lifted its stake in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southern by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 0.4% during the fourth quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,676,000 after buying an additional 122 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 15.9% in the 4th quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2.0% in the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI lifted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.64.

Southern Stock Up 0.3%

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $0.25 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $88.51. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,907,798 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,530,513. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $89.70 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.27 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. 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 firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 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.