Willis Investment Counsel Cuts Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Willis Investment Counsel decreased its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 15.3% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 4,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 820 shares during the quarter. Willis Investment Counsel’s holdings in Southern were worth $418,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth about $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,725,187,000 after buying an additional 1,694,066 shares during the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 125.4% during the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,059,000 after buying an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,253,000 after buying an additional 499,996 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the second quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,565,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $235,623,000 after acquiring an additional 403,929 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the company. BTIG Research started coverage on Southern in a report on Tuesday, October 21st. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Mizuho raised their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays lowered their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, November 15th. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an “underperform” rating and set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

Southern Stock Down 0.6%

SO stock opened at $88.51 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $93.97 and a 200-day moving average of $92.45. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a market capitalization of $97.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.