Vicus Capital Takes $280,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Vicus Capital bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the first quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 3,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $280,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its position in Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its position in Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $77.57 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $77.58 and a 200 day moving average price of $72.28. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $80.84. The company has a market capitalization of $84.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. 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 posted 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 net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Argus boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. 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.