Valley National Advisers Inc. Buys 694 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 159.9% during the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 1,128 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 694 shares during the quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $102,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $922,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 23.0% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the first quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syverson Strege & Co increased its holdings in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $91.92 on Tuesday. 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 business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.64. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $101.03 billion, a PE ratio of 21.94, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.93.

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.