Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. Acquires 595 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 22.5% in the 1st quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 3,245 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 595 shares during the quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $299,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Crews Bank & Trust bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $364,000. Level Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $343,000. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 3.7% during the fourth quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 85,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC increased its position in Southern by 42.6% during the fourth quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 15,470 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,273,000 after buying an additional 4,625 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,000 after buying an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $88.65 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $97.43 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business’s fifty day moving average is $89.85 and its 200-day moving average is $87.23. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.87 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.34%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.21.

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.