Eagle Ridge Investment Management Acquires 1,384 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Eagle Ridge Investment Management lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 176,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,384 shares during the quarter. Eagle Ridge Investment Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,658,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its position in 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 during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $34,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Scotiabank cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Bank of America upped their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.14.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the sale, 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 document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.7 %

NYSE SO traded up $0.55 on Tuesday, reaching $77.55. The company had a trading volume of 2,766,638 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,630,097. The company’s fifty day moving average is $77.66 and its 200-day moving average is $72.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.80 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company 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 company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $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 firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.