Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Purchased by Hsbc Holdings PLC

Hsbc Holdings PLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 19.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 1,992,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 319,389 shares during the period. Hsbc Holdings PLC owned 0.17% of Southern worth $191,120,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Uptick Partners LLC raised its stake in Southern by 1.5% during the first quarter. Uptick Partners LLC now owns 7,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $734,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 2.4% in the first quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 4,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $475,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the period. KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,313,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 15,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG raised its position in shares of Southern by 4.7% during the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 2,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $87.90 on Monday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $93.40 and a 200-day moving average of $94.25. The firm has a market cap of $101.12 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.23 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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 given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Mizuho set a $106.00 target price on Southern in a research report on Friday, July 31st. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target 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 investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.09.

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.