Retirement Planning Group LLC Buys Shares of 4,986 The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Retirement Planning Group LLC bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 4,986 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $358,000.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Rockline Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $1,945,000. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $16,067,000. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 13.3% in the 4th quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $365,000 after purchasing an additional 612 shares during the last quarter. Savant Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Savant Capital LLC now owns 65,937 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,624,000 after purchasing an additional 2,691 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Zullo Investment Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.8% in the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $241,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’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 transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Down 1.7 %

SO opened at $78.02 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $80.84. The company has a market cap of $85.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.16, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.51. 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 50-day simple moving average is $77.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.14.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 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 business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Bank of America increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Finally, UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.14.

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.