LVZ Inc. Has $1.72 Million Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

LVZ Inc. raised its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 476 shares during the quarter. LVZ Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,723,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $112,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.09 on Friday. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $76.96 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $97.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.75 and a 200-day moving average of $87.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Company Profile

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.