Sound Income Strategies LLC Sells 4,244 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sound Income Strategies LLC lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 56.8% during the 1st quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,244 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $297,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,815,000 after acquiring an additional 15,923 shares during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,564,000 after acquiring an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 16,464.2% during the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 31,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,632,000 after acquiring an additional 31,776 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,485,000 after acquiring an additional 10,194 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $90.22 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $89.71 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.30. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Raymond James began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

Southern Company 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.