California State Teachers Retirement System Acquires 124,319,975 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9,736.0% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 125,596,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 124,319,975 shares during the period. California State Teachers Retirement System owned approximately 0.11% of Southern worth $12,020,878,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Evergreen Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth about $25,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $25,000. Ankerstar Wealth LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $27,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho set a $106.00 target price on Southern in a report on Friday, July 31st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Truist Financial lowered their price target on Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Barclays reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.09 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $93.09 and a 200 day moving average of $94.21. The company has a market capitalization of $102.49 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.36, a PEG ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 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 announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is 72.90%.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.