Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Confluence Wealth Services Inc.

Confluence Wealth Services Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.1% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 15,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,403,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Investors Research Corp boosted its holdings in 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 stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Elequin Capital LP lifted its holdings in 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 acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $44,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lifted 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. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $90.78 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.52. The company has a market cap of $99.78 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 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.