Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Walter & Keenan Wealth Management LLC IN ADV

Walter & Keenan Wealth Management LLC IN ADV grew its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.7% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 11,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 292 shares during the period. Walter & Keenan Wealth Management LLC IN ADV’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Roberts Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the first quarter worth about $209,000. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors raised its stake in Southern by 0.5% during the first quarter. Bay Colony Advisory Group Inc d b a Bay Colony Advisors now owns 28,699 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,615,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated raised its stake in Southern by 3.7% during the first quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 15,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,412,000 after acquiring an additional 558 shares during the period. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC raised its stake in Southern by 288.4% during the first quarter. Sterling Investment Counsel LLC now owns 12,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,142,000 after acquiring an additional 9,225 shares during the period. Finally, Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 7.5% during the first quarter. Johnson Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 36,044 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,314,000 after acquiring an additional 2,500 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $88.42 on Friday. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.18 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.38. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.32.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group upped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.93.

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.