Diversified Trust Co Raises Stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Diversified Trust Co increased its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.3% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 26,469 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,243 shares during the period. Diversified Trust Co’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,434,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in Southern by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $889,490,000 after acquiring an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.5%

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.78 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.78 billion, a PE ratio of 21.67, a P/E/G ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $76.96 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.69 and a 200 day moving average of $87.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts have weighed in on the company. Evercore ISI upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, UBS Group increased their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target 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.