Van ECK Associates Corp Boosts Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Van ECK Associates Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 6.4% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 420,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 25,376 shares during the period. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $39,819,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,414,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,084,885,000 after purchasing an additional 510,080 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 320.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,179,425,000 after acquiring an additional 25,567,431 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 0.9% during the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,006,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,377,494,000 after purchasing an additional 241,572 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the second quarter valued at approximately $1,179,715,000. Finally, Legal & General Group Plc boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.5% in the 3rd quarter. Legal & General Group Plc now owns 8,532,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $808,628,000 after buying an additional 285,546 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. UBS Group lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, December 17th. Wall Street Zen cut Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, December 6th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.08.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

SO stock opened at $96.21 on Thursday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $91.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.51. The company has a market capitalization of $105.93 billion, a PE ratio of 24.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.44. 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 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.The company had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.41 billion. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 75.32%.

Southern 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.