Alpine Bank Wealth Management Makes New Investment in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Alpine Bank Wealth Management acquired a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 2,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $226,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of 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. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position 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 valued at $179,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 562.9% during the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. UBS Group upped 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Evercore ISI boosted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE:SO opened at $90.38 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $89.74 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.44. The company has a market cap of $99.33 billion, a PE ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.96 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. Analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

About Southern

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.