Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC Decreases Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC lowered its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 52,901 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 951 shares during the quarter. Wealthcare Advisory Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,864,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Southern by 25.6% during the fourth quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after acquiring an additional 5,894 shares during the last quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC increased its position in Southern by 13.2% during the fourth quarter. Kestra Private Wealth Services LLC now owns 62,752 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,166,000 after acquiring an additional 7,316 shares during the last quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 9.2% during the fourth quarter. Soltis Investment Advisors LLC now owns 3,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 278 shares during the last quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Southern by 3.9% during the fourth quarter. Principle Wealth Partners LLC now owns 102,907 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,471,000 after acquiring an additional 3,829 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Focus Financial Network Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 2.1% during the fourth quarter. Focus Financial Network Inc. now owns 16,050 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,321,000 after purchasing an additional 323 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. KeyCorp lowered 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. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.64.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $89.27 on Wednesday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.58 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.30. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.96 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $98.11 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 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.