Cetera Advisors LLC Grows Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Cetera Advisors LLC boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 72.6% in the first quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 203,869 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 85,777 shares during the quarter. Cetera Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $14,626,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised 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 worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. raised 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 worth $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised 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 acquiring an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Bank of America raised their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.33.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock traded up $1.01 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $88.58. The company had a trading volume of 7,196,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $89.24. The stock has a market cap of $96.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.89, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.73 and its 200 day simple moving average is $74.02.

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, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.