Waterloo Capital L.P. Has $3.81 Million Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Waterloo Capital L.P. boosted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 10.3% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 41,460 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 3,860 shares during the period. Waterloo Capital L.P.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,807,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its position in Southern by 24.7% during the second quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,171,000 after acquiring an additional 6,843 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 23.6% in the 2nd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 7,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares during the period. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 5.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 822,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $75,521,000 after purchasing an additional 42,531 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Southern by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after buying an additional 1,694,066 shares during the period. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth $2,352,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of analysts have issued reports on the stock. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $102.50 target price (up from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Finally, BTIG Research assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

Southern Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE SO opened at $89.36 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.91 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.39 billion, a PE ratio of 22.97, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.27%.

About Southern

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.