Mirador Capital Partners LP Boosts Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mirador Capital Partners LP increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 5,300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 327 shares during the quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP’s holdings in Southern were worth $380,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after buying an additional 352,023 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in shares of Southern by 53.2% in the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,153,065,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707,845 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $631,068,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Down 0.7 %

Southern stock opened at $77.00 on Tuesday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $77.58 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $72.27. The stock has a market cap of $84.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 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.

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. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal 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 positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, June 24th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho lifted 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. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $76.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

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.