Southern Company (The) $SO Position Lessened by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. lowered its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.5% during the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 2,430,312 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 62,071 shares during the period. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $201,449,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. bought a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $26,152,000. ProShare Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 1.4% in the 3rd quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 181,376 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,034,000 after buying an additional 2,474 shares during the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 7.2% during the 3rd quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 9,282 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $769,000 after acquiring an additional 623 shares in the last quarter. Summit Global Investments lifted its stake in Southern by 65.6% during the 3rd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 6,863 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $569,000 after acquiring an additional 2,719 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MGO One Seven LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.9% during the 3rd quarter. MGO One Seven LLC now owns 61,478 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,096,000 after acquiring an additional 2,283 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, October 13th. HSBC initiated coverage on Southern in a research report on Thursday, October 22nd. They set a “buy” rating and a $99.50 price target for the company. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Southern from $97.00 to $93.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, October 15th. Mizuho set a $106.00 target price on Southern in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, DA Davidson set a $98.00 target price on Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 21st. Eight research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.24.

Southern Stock Down 0.0%

SO opened at $93.70 on Monday. Southern Company has a one year low of $81.69 and a one year high of $99.58. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $87.78 and a 200-day moving average price of $92.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.46 and a beta of 0.30.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 7th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 16th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 16th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.90%.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an energy holding company headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia. Through its subsidiaries, the company generates, transmits, distributes and sells electricity, while also providing natural gas distribution and related energy services.

Southern’s electric utility operations include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power, which serve customers across Alabama, Georgia and Mississippi. The company’s generation portfolio includes nuclear, natural gas, coal, hydroelectric and renewable energy resources.