Opal Wealth Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 542 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Opal Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor acquired 542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $50,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Robbins Farley lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the first quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 32,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,984,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the period. Byrne Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.4% during the first quarter. Byrne Asset Management LLC now owns 4,175 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $384,000 after buying an additional 250 shares during the period. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.7% during the first quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. now owns 16,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,508,000 after buying an additional 280 shares during the period. CVA Family Office LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 10.0% during the first quarter. CVA Family Office LLC now owns 2,336 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $215,000 after buying an additional 212 shares during the period. Finally, Tudor Financial Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $202,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts recently commented on the stock. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group upped their price target 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. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $90.22 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.71 and a 200-day moving average of $87.30. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.96 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared 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 represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.28%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

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.