Rockland Trust Co. cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 9.6% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 119,029 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 12,590 shares during the period. Rockland Trust Co.'s holdings in Southern were worth $10,945,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.
Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Investors Research Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 400.0% during the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Sierra Ocean LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Elequin Capital LP increased its position in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped 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. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $93.00.
View Our Latest Stock Analysis on SO
Southern Stock Performance
Shares of NYSE SO traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $90.22. 5,059,008 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,556,378. The firm has a market cap of $99.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.65 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.32.
Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business's 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 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Southern Increases Dividend
The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. 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 3.28%. Southern's payout ratio is 70.64%.
About Southern
(
Free Report)
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.
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