Field & Main Bank Purchases New Shares in Southern Company (The) $SO

Field & Main Bank purchased a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 9,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $951,000.

A number of other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $4,443,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $2,462,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 121.4% during the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,150,000 after acquiring an additional 969,493 shares in the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its stake in Southern by 29.2% during the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 50,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,887,000 after purchasing an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 158,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,803,000 after buying an additional 10,531 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Mizuho set a $106.00 price target on Southern in a research report on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Barclays cut their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.09.

Southern Stock Down 1.0%

SO opened at $88.18 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. The company has a fifty day moving average of $94.12 and a two-hundred day moving average of $94.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.90%.

About Southern

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.