Copia Wealth Management Increases Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Copia Wealth Management grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 296.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,631 shares during the quarter. Copia Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $201,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. V Square Quantitative Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 18.4% during the 4th quarter. V Square Quantitative Management LLC now owns 4,810 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $396,000 after buying an additional 747 shares during the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 24.2% during the 4th quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $268,000 after buying an additional 635 shares during the last quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 7.7% during the 4th quarter. Congress Asset Management Co. now owns 7,158 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 511 shares during the last quarter. Principal Securities Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 5.5% during the 4th quarter. Principal Securities Inc. now owns 24,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,020,000 after buying an additional 1,277 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Allworth Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 363.6% during the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 152,335 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,571,000 after buying an additional 119,475 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.6%

NYSE:SO opened at $88.88 on Tuesday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.30. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.69 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm 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%. Southern’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued 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 yield of 3.33%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Raymond James started coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $93.00.

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.