Liberty Wealth Management LLC Invests $932,000 in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Liberty Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the first quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 10,140 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $932,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. SCP Investment LP acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter worth $901,000. Banco Santander S.A. boosted its position in Southern by 12.8% during the first quarter. Banco Santander S.A. now owns 8,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $797,000 after purchasing an additional 980 shares during the last quarter. Fiduciary Wealth Partners LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the first quarter valued at about $204,000. IFG Advisory LLC grew its stake in Southern by 0.9% in the first quarter. IFG Advisory LLC now owns 100,222 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,215,000 after purchasing an additional 862 shares in the last quarter. Finally, SPC Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter worth about $1,169,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 15th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Two investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.29.

Southern Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $94.96 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $91.38 and its 200-day moving average is $89.50. The company has a market cap of $104.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.41, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for 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%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.