Corient Private Wealth LP Takes $25.96 Million Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Corient Private Wealth LP purchased a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 271,260 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $25,963,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Southern by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,587,589,000 after buying an additional 7,593,224 shares in the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Southern by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,004,866,000 after buying an additional 5,436,212 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,259,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,381,344,000 after buying an additional 384,860 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,111,450,000. Finally, Bank of America Corp DE grew its stake in Southern by 4.9% in the 1st quarter. Bank of America Corp DE now owns 8,380,592 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $808,895,000 after acquiring an additional 392,210 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of 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 shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.09.

Southern Stock Down 1.0%

Shares of SO opened at $88.18 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.34. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.12 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.38.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 72.90%.

About Southern

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.