Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. Buys New Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Braun Bostich & Associates Inc. purchased a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm purchased 2,310 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $212,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the first quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $562,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its stake in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 0.3% during the 4th quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,381,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southern by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,676,000 after purchasing an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised 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 report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, UBS Group upped their target price 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.64.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.58 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $98.46 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $89.59 and a 200 day moving average of $87.31. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $76.96 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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. 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 period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.30%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.