Richardson Financial Services Inc. Invests $39,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Richardson Financial Services Inc. bought a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 558 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $39,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $316,000 after acquiring an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.8% in the 4th quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 19,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,399,000 after acquiring an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 10,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 20,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,454,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank boosted its position in shares of Southern by 23.9% in the 4th quarter. CNB Bank now owns 778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $55,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $77.68 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The business’s fifty day moving average is $76.04 and its 200 day moving average is $71.85. The company has a market capitalization of $84.94 billion, a PE ratio of 20.07, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly 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 SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Argus increased their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, May 31st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.36.

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.