The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Copia Wealth Management

Copia Wealth Management increased its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 296.5% in the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 2,181 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,631 shares during the quarter. Copia Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $201,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 0.7% during the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after buying an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $562,000 after buying an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Syverson Strege & Co boosted its stake in Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $351,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Robbins Farley boosted its stake in Southern by 0.4% in the 1st quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 32,454 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,984,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.88 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $97.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.17, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The Southern Company has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.30.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.33%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group raised their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Raymond James started coverage on Southern in a report on Friday. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $93.00.

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.