690 Shares in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Purchased by North Capital Inc.

North Capital Inc. purchased a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 690 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $63,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Investors Research Corp increased its position in shares of Southern by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Elequin Capital LP raised its position in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,000 after buying an additional 188 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SO. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research 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, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.93.

Southern Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE SO opened at $90.97 on Friday. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $77.47 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.38. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.73 and a 200 day moving average price of $87.76.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.03 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders 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 3.25%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

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.