Proathlete Wealth Management LLC Purchases New Holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Proathlete Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 1,763 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $162,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Good Steward Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $604,000. ORG Partners LLC increased its stake in Southern by 7.1% in the 1st quarter. ORG Partners LLC now owns 2,302 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $211,000 after buying an additional 152 shares during the period. Walter & Keenan Wealth Management LLC IN ADV increased its stake in Southern by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Walter & Keenan Wealth Management LLC IN ADV now owns 11,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,016,000 after buying an additional 292 shares during the period. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $209,000. Finally, Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors increased its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 28,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,615,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $88.42 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.32. The company has a market cap of $97.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.93.

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.