Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Swiss National Bank

Swiss National Bank reduced its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 3,168,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 152,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $300,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp lifted its stake in Southern by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Aull & Monroe Investment Management Corp now owns 77,704 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,364,000 after buying an additional 466 shares in the last quarter. Inceptionr LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth $1,628,000. Private Advisor Group LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the third quarter. Private Advisor Group LLC now owns 118,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,260,000 after acquiring an additional 3,279 shares during the last quarter. PFG Advisors lifted its position in shares of Southern by 35.0% in the third quarter. PFG Advisors now owns 3,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $326,000 after acquiring an additional 891 shares in the last quarter. Finally, ProVise Management Group LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.6% in the third quarter. ProVise Management Group LLC now owns 7,858 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $745,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 price objective on Southern and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, January 21st. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a “hold” rating and issued a $102.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

Southern Stock Up 0.6%

SO opened at $97.75 on Monday. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $90.81 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.47. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.63 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.The company had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.32%.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.