2,388 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Bought by Oak Family Advisors LLC

Oak Family Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 2,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

Other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.2% in the fourth 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 during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $889,490,000 after acquiring an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $88.51 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $89.64 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.28. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly 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 return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.34%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Evercore ISI boosted 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. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.64.

Southern 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.