Miracle Mile Advisors LLC Purchases 11,243 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 309.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 14,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 11,243 shares during the quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,067,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 0.4% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after purchasing an additional 352,023 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake in 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 in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in Southern by 3.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $631,068,000. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related 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 value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, June 24th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.14.

Southern Trading Down 0.7 %

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $0.57 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $77.00. 2,932,886 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,644,977. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $80.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $84.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $77.58 and its 200 day moving average price is $72.27.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The business’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.74%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

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.