Legal & General Group Plc Has $808.63 Million Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Legal & General Group Plc lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.5% in the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 8,532,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 285,546 shares during the period. Legal & General Group Plc’s holdings in Southern were worth $808,628,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the business. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the second quarter worth about $1,179,715,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 9,099.6% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $406,011,000 after acquiring an additional 4,373,271 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 83.8% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $376,266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,912 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,725,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Soundwatch Capital LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $103,342,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $97.24 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.65. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $91.01 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.47. The company has a market capitalization of $107.07 billion, a PE ratio of 24.74, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.41 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 75.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, February 20th. Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and issued a $102.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Truist Financial set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.08.

Southern Company 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.