ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC Buys 2,255 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.3% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 98,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,255 shares during the quarter. Southern comprises about 1.3% of ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 25th largest position. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $9,085,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Wedmont Private Capital boosted its stake in Southern by 5.3% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 17,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,000 after buying an additional 852 shares in the last quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 4.6% in the first quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $301,000 after buying an additional 144 shares in the last quarter. Gleason Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 0.8% in the first quarter. Gleason Group Inc. now owns 16,981 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,561,000 after buying an additional 137 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Planning LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the first quarter worth approximately $226,000. Finally, Constitution Capital LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 16.0% in the first quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 13,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,197,000 after buying an additional 1,800 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

SO opened at $88.26 on Friday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.70 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.00 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.01, a PEG 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. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued 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 3.35%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp lowered Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.64.

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.