St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Purchases 958 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.2% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 10,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 958 shares during the quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $741,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.1% during the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 0.8% in the fourth quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 19,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,399,000 after buying an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 10,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $738,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN boosted its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 20,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,454,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CNB Bank boosted its stake in Southern by 23.9% in the fourth quarter. CNB Bank now owns 778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Bank of America raised their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and cut their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. 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 issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $76.14.

Southern Trading Up 0.2 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $78.20 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $85.51 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.21, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $77.16 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.14. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 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 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 3.68%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.