Stone House Investment Management LLC Invests $101,000 in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Stone House Investment Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund purchased 1,097 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $101,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after buying an additional 1,419,724 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its position in Southern by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $889,490,000 after buying an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Southern by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,297,000 after buying an additional 81,066 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 979,756 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.1%

SO stock opened at $94.58 on Tuesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.04 billion, a PE ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.05 and its 200 day simple moving average is $89.98.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s payout ratio is 76.09%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.29.

About Southern

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.