Retirement Guys Formula LLC Invests $685,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Retirement Guys Formula LLC bought a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 9,543 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $685,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth about $579,000. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 6.2% during the third quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 188,409 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,194,000 after acquiring an additional 10,991 shares during the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 96.4% during the third quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 16,658 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,078,000 after acquiring an additional 8,176 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Alps Advisors Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 2.1% in the third quarter. Alps Advisors Inc. now owns 332,109 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,494,000 after purchasing an additional 6,859 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $76.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO traded up $0.17 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $77.72. 1,432,802 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,629,153. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $80.84. The company has a market capitalization of $84.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $77.83 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.39. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

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.