Strive Asset Management LLC Makes New $37,000 Investment in Southern Company (The) $SO

Strive Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm purchased 40,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $37,000.

Several other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,179,715,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 9,099.6% in the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $406,011,000 after acquiring an additional 4,373,271 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Southern by 83.8% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after buying an additional 1,867,912 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Soundwatch Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at about $103,342,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $96.92 on Wednesday. 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 company’s fifty day moving average price is $90.19 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.37. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.72 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.66, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.44. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.09 and a 12 month high of $100.83.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.32%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. TD Cowen reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. Finally, Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, January 21st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $97.64.

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.