Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Buys 11,243 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 309.9% during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 14,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 11,243 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Rockline Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $1,945,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $16,067,000. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 13.3% during the fourth quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.3% during the fourth quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 65,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,624,000 after buying an additional 2,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.8% during the fourth quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $241,000 after buying an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, June 24th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.57 during trading on Monday, hitting $77.00. 2,932,886 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,644,977. The stock has a market cap of $84.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $77.58 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.27. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.74%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Southern Profile

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.