BIP Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Free Report) in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 10,758 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $749,000.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.3% in the first quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,651 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $741,000 after purchasing an additional 140 shares during the period. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 10.2% in the first quarter. JFS Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 1,534 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $107,000 after purchasing an additional 142 shares during the period. Tranquility Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.3% in the first quarter. Tranquility Partners LLC now owns 4,528 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $315,000 after purchasing an additional 144 shares during the period. Marcum Wealth LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the first quarter. Marcum Wealth LLC now owns 5,327 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $371,000 after purchasing an additional 145 shares during the period. Finally, Calamos Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the first quarter. Calamos Wealth Management LLC now owns 29,642 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,062,000 after acquiring an additional 145 shares during the last quarter. 63.25% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. VNET Group reiterated a “maintains” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, April 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “conviction-buy” rating in a research note on Monday, July 3rd. Guggenheim decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $79.00 to $77.00 in a research note on Friday, July 7th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $69.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to an “equal weight” rating and raised their price objective for the stock from $60.00 to $69.00 in a report on Thursday, August 10th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, three have issued a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.07.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.31 during trading on Friday, reaching $67.94. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 293,097 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,127,169. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $70.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.78. The firm has a market cap of $74.09 billion, a PE ratio of 24.12, a P/E/G ratio of 4.73 and a beta of 0.50. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $58.85 and a fifty-two week high of $80.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.83, a quick ratio of 0.62 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.59.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 3rd. The utilities provider reported $0.79 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.74 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $5.75 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.47 billion. Southern had a net margin of 11.17% and a return on equity of 9.86%. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 20.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.07 EPS. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 3.6 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 21st will be paid a $0.70 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 18th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.12%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 98.94%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 47,326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.78, for a total transaction of $3,302,408.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 118,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,280,025.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 47,326 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, June 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $69.78, for a total transaction of $3,302,408.28. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 118,659 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,280,025.02. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,435 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, June 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.99, for a total transaction of $100,435.65. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 74,246 shares in the company, valued at $5,196,477.54. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 143,761 shares of company stock valued at $10,152,544. 0.28% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Profile

(Free Report)

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates through three segments: Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, and Gas Marketing Services. 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.

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