Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Has $62.95 Million Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH boosted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.8% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 652,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 23,941 shares during the quarter. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned about 0.06% of Southern worth $62,947,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Ankerstar Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $31,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Evercore upgraded shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 1st. KeyCorp raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Mizuho set a $105.00 target price on Southern in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.26.

Southern Stock Up 1.1%

Shares of SO opened at $97.00 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $109.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.68, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.23 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 77.35%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. The trade was a 19.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.