Sanctuary Advisors LLC Invests $38.44 Million in Southern Company (The) $SO

Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm acquired 401,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $38,440,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 17.5% during 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. grew its holdings in Southern by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 59,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,438,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the last quarter. WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $655,000. Sei Investments Co. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 11.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 449,960 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $41,320,000 after acquiring an additional 46,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2.7% during the second 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 acquiring an additional 13,392 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Mizuho set a $106.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Barclays decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.09.

Southern Trading Up 0.2%

NYSE SO opened at $89.09 on Monday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $94.52 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.44. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a P/E/G ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.23 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid 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 yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.90%.

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.