Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Purchased by National Pension Service

National Pension Service lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,932,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 54,111 shares during the quarter. National Pension Service’s holdings in Southern were worth $280,715,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,443,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. increased its position in shares of Southern by 121.4% during the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,150,000 after acquiring an additional 969,493 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 29.2% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 50,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,887,000 after acquiring an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc boosted its holdings in Southern by 114.2% in the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 45,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,934,000 after purchasing an additional 24,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its holdings in Southern by 19.1% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 92,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,908,000 after purchasing an additional 14,798 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $88.37 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $101.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.19, a PEG ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $92.95 and a 200-day moving average of $94.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The business had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 72.90%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Barclays dropped their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on Southern in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho set a $106.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, August 21st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.09.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.