CX Institutional Buys 634 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CX Institutional boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 8,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 634 shares during the quarter. CX Institutional’s holdings in Southern were worth $746,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investors Research Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 400.0% during the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $37,000. Sierra Ocean LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $39,000. Finally, Elequin Capital LP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.25 on Friday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.65 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.32. The company has a market cap of $99.19 billion, a PE ratio of 22.51, a PEG 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 Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. 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 report on Tuesday, April 8th. KeyCorp cut 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. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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.