Arizona State Retirement System Buys 11,059 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Arizona State Retirement System lifted its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.7% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 312,805 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 11,059 shares during the period. Arizona State Retirement System’s holdings in Southern were worth $29,939,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $4,443,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 121.4% in the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,150,000 after purchasing an additional 969,493 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern by 29.2% during the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 50,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,887,000 after purchasing an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc grew its stake in Southern by 114.2% in the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 45,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,934,000 after purchasing an additional 24,056 shares during the period. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA grew its stake in Southern by 19.1% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 92,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,908,000 after purchasing an additional 14,798 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Truist Financial cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.98 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $89.09. 6,416,290 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,761,003. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.22 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.22. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its 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 business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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 issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.