AustralianSuper Pty Ltd Sells 16,578 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

AustralianSuper Pty Ltd trimmed its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 15.2% in the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 92,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 16,578 shares during the quarter. AustralianSuper Pty Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,510,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its position in Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,864,000 after acquiring an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Southern by 11,230.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $179,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC grew its position in Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after acquiring an additional 1,162,288 shares during the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 23.2% in the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $428,794,000 after buying an additional 979,756 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of SO stock opened at $94.10 on Friday. The business’s fifty day moving average is $90.04 and its 200 day moving average is $88.55. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $94.63. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. The company has a market capitalization of $103.42 billion, a PE ratio of 22.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal 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 paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $93.20.

Southern 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.