Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Rockline Wealth Management LLC

Rockline Wealth Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.9% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 32,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,227 shares during the quarter. Rockline Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,030,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of SO. Investors Research Corp increased its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $37,000. Elequin Capital LP increased its stake in shares of Southern by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,000 after acquiring an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $44,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective 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 given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.09 on Friday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.75 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.33. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.96 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $97.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. 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.