First Dallas Securities Inc. Trims Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

First Dallas Securities Inc. lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.1% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 8,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 450 shares during the period. First Dallas Securities Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $604,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after acquiring an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

NYSE SO traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $77.57. The company had a trading volume of 6,226,973 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,873,369. 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 one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $80.84. The company has a market cap of $84.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51. The company’s fifty day moving average is $77.58 and its 200-day moving average is $72.26.

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 firm had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict 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. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.71%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Monday, June 24th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $76.14.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.