Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Essex Savings Bank

Essex Savings Bank boosted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 18.3% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,899 shares during the period. Essex Savings Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,130,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,815,000 after buying an additional 15,923 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp grew its position in Southern by 1.1% during the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,564,000 after buying an additional 1,785 shares during the period. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 16,464.2% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 31,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after buying an additional 31,776 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its position in shares of Southern by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 10,194 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. One 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.00.

Southern Stock Down 0.6%

SO stock opened at $88.41 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $89.76 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

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.