Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Purchased by Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC

Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC raised its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.9% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 94,829 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,695 shares during the period. Sound View Wealth Advisors Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,708,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 275.0% in the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Advantage Trust Co raised its holdings in Southern by 1,428.6% in the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after acquiring an additional 300 shares during the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $91.39 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $100.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.49, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.19 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.50.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SO. KeyCorp increased their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Southern to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.56.

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.