Bush Investment Group LLC Acquires 4,896 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bush Investment Group LLC raised its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 73.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 11,594 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 4,896 shares during the period. Southern makes up approximately 0.7% of Bush Investment Group LLC’s holdings, making the stock its 22nd biggest position. Bush Investment Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $832,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in Southern by 62.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have recently issued reports on SO. Argus lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.33.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $1.01 on Friday, hitting $88.58. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 7,196,642 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,794,487. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $79.73 and a 200-day moving average price of $74.04. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $89.24. The company has a market capitalization of $96.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.89, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly 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 company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.95% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

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.