Register Financial Advisors LLC Buys 2,246 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Register Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 17,590 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 2,246 shares during the quarter. Register Financial Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,262,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its position in 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 buying an additional 170 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Bank of America increased their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $77.57. 6,205,882 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,658,785. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $77.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.26. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.