Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by NFP Retirement Inc.

NFP Retirement Inc. decreased its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 19.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,259 shares during the period. NFP Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $471,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Equitable Trust Co. raised its stake in Southern by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,171,000 after acquiring an additional 6,843 shares in the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 23.6% in the second quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 7,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $656,000 after purchasing an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.5% during the second 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. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,725,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter valued at about $2,352,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $97.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. The Goldman Sachs Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.03.

Southern Stock Down 0.6%

NYSE SO opened at $88.51 on Friday. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The company has a market capitalization of $97.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.97 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.45. 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 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued 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 payout ratio is presently 73.27%.

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.