Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC Acquires 74,948 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1,062.2% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 82,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 74,948 shares during the period. Elevation Point Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,915,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the stock. Ankerstar Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Triumph Capital Management purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $97.84 on Friday. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $110.30 billion, a PE ratio of 24.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.69 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.71.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Truist Financial lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, May 29th. Evercore raised shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Citigroup reaffirmed a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, April 10th. Finally, Seaport Research Partners downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.26.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.