Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. Buys 280 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc. grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.7% during the first quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 16,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Ipswich Investment Management Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,508,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its holdings in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 11,230.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $179,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 562.9% in the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Raymond James assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

Southern Trading Down 0.2%

Southern stock opened at $90.22 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The business’s fifty day moving average is $89.71 and its 200 day moving average is $87.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Southern Company 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.