2,407 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by Floyd Financial Group LLC

Floyd Financial Group LLC acquired a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 2,407 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $221,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 3.7% in the fourth quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. now owns 85,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,049,000 after purchasing an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 4,625 shares during the period. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in Southern by 56.6% in the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 83.7% in the fourth quarter. Values First Advisors Inc. now owns 6,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $547,000 after acquiring an additional 3,029 shares during the period. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.21.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.66 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $98.54 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.36, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.90 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.28. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly 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. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.