Salem Investment Counselors Inc. Sells 9,937 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Salem Investment Counselors Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 52.1% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 9,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 9,937 shares during the quarter. Salem Investment Counselors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $840,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Empowered Funds LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 25.6% during the 4th quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 28,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,382,000 after purchasing an additional 5,894 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% during the 4th quarter. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC now owns 545,083 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,735,000 after purchasing an additional 140,401 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 14.4% during the 4th quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 347,051 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,570,000 after purchasing an additional 43,631 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 8.9% during the 4th quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $291,000 after purchasing an additional 288 shares during the period. Finally, Avestar Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 10.3% during the 4th quarter. Avestar Capital LLC now owns 6,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $518,000 after purchasing an additional 586 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Down 0.2%

SO stock opened at $90.22 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45. 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 company has a market capitalization of $99.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.71 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a 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%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. Guggenheim restated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective 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 issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

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.