The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Gleason Group Inc.

Gleason Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 137 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up approximately 0.3% of Gleason Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Gleason Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,561,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Fiduciary Planning LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $226,000. Constitution Capital LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 16.0% during the 1st quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 13,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the last quarter. AGH Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $206,000. Curat Global LLC bought a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Foster Group Inc. bought a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth $236,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have issued reports on the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.64.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.26 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.29. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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 represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.35%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Company 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.