Berkshire Bank Purchases 166 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Berkshire Bank increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,118 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 166 shares during the period. Berkshire Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $287,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 0.7% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 23.0% during the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.9% during the first quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Syverson Strege & Co raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. Finally, Robbins Farley raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the first quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 32,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,984,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 1.6%

Southern stock opened at $88.88 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.96 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $97.69 billion, a PE ratio of 22.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Raymond James assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

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.