RFG Advisory LLC Purchases 5,800 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

RFG Advisory LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.4% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 112,668 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 5,800 shares during the period. RFG Advisory LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,783,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $4,443,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its position in Southern by 121.4% in the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,150,000 after purchasing an additional 969,493 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 29.2% during the 1st quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 50,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,887,000 after purchasing an additional 11,448 shares during the period. MUFG Securities EMEA plc increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 114.2% during the 4th quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 45,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,934,000 after purchasing an additional 24,056 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA raised its position in shares of Southern by 19.1% during the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 92,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,908,000 after buying an additional 14,798 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.09 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.09 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.21. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The firm has a market cap of $102.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen cut Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on Southern in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.09.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.