HBK Sorce Advisory LLC Purchases New Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

HBK Sorce Advisory LLC acquired a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm acquired 9,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $879,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 17.5% in the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after purchasing an additional 5,067 shares in the last quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its position in Southern by 0.7% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 59,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,438,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new stake in Southern during the second quarter worth $655,000. Sei Investments Co. boosted its stake in Southern by 11.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 449,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $41,320,000 after buying an additional 46,504 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in Southern by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 514,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $47,268,000 after buying an additional 13,392 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Truist Financial cut their price target on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho set a $106.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Stock Up 0.0%

SO opened at $92.83 on Monday. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.69 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The firm has a market cap of $106.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed 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 of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.90%.

Southern 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.