OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp Buys New Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp purchased a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the second quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 82,207 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $7,868,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $4,443,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 99,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,667,000 after purchasing an additional 16,878 shares in the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,462,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. grew its holdings in 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 buying an additional 969,493 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in Southern by 7.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 158,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,803,000 after buying an additional 10,531 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.3%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $90.10 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $103.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $100.83. 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 stock has a fifty day moving average price of $94.45 and a 200-day moving average price of $94.44.

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, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The company had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Mizuho set a $106.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.09.

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.