Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Kingsview Wealth Management LLC

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 36,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,731 shares during the period. Kingsview Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,319,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $889,490,000 after acquiring an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $428,794,000 after acquiring an additional 979,756 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Evercore ISI lifted their target price 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. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.20.

Southern Stock Up 0.8%

Shares of SO stock opened at $94.10 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $90.04 and a 200-day moving average of $88.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $94.63. The company has a market capitalization of $103.42 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. 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.