The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock Position Boosted by Thrive Wealth Management LLC

Thrive Wealth Management LLC boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.1% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 154 shares during the period. Thrive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $543,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its position in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SO. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Bank of America upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.14.

Southern Stock Down 0.3 %

NYSE SO traded down $0.24 during trading on Friday, reaching $77.80. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 346,570 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,610,360. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.07 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.33 and a 200-day moving average price of $72.18. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a $0.72 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.70%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

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.