Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Resolution Capital Ltd

Resolution Capital Ltd decreased its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 80.8% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,400 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 47,888 shares during the quarter. Resolution Capital Ltd’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,100,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Weiss Ratings raised Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Wall Street Zen upgraded Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Raymond James Financial restated an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.21.

Southern Trading Up 0.5%

Southern stock opened at $96.94 on Wednesday. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a market capitalization of $109.28 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.67, a P/E/G ratio of 1.85 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.54 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.88.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company’s revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 77.35%.

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.