CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Purchases 495 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 9,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 495 shares during the period. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Southern were worth $888,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC increased its stake in Southern by 1.9% during the 1st quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co increased its stake in Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $351,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC increased its stake 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 in 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. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.64.

Southern Stock Down 0.1%

NYSE:SO opened at $88.26 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $89.70 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.28. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate 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 is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 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.