Spirepoint Private Client LLC Has $7.54 Million Holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Spirepoint Private Client LLC grew its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 13.0% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 81,952 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,409 shares during the period. Spirepoint Private Client LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,536,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Investors Research Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Elequin Capital LP grew its position in shares of Southern by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several research reports. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Up 1.6%

NYSE SO opened at $90.73 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $89.74 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. 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 capitalization of $99.72 billion, a PE ratio of 21.65, a PEG ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its 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 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Southern 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.