West Family Investments Inc. Has $1.14 Million Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

West Family Investments Inc. boosted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 12,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,187 shares during the period. West Family Investments Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,142,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in Southern by 0.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,006,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,377,494,000 after purchasing an additional 241,572 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern in the second quarter worth approximately $1,179,715,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,003,419,000 after buying an additional 107,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.3% during the 2nd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $621,567,000 after buying an additional 87,891 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Tuesday, October 21st. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, November 20th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underperform” rating and issued a $97.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.03.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $90.78 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.96 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $93.73 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $92.42. 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 posted its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.39 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. 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.