National Pension Service Boosts Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

National Pension Service lifted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 2,753,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 47,451 shares during the period. National Pension Service’s holdings in Southern were worth $260,966,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Welch & Forbes LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 8.0% in the third quarter. Welch & Forbes LLC now owns 6,546 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $620,000 after purchasing an additional 484 shares during the period. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.1% in the 3rd quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Management LLC now owns 5,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $489,000 after purchasing an additional 108 shares during the last quarter. AlphaQuest LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 285.4% during the 3rd quarter. AlphaQuest LLC now owns 13,819 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,310,000 after buying an additional 10,233 shares during the period. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO grew its stake in shares of Southern by 2.7% during the 3rd quarter. Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO now owns 6,063 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $575,000 after buying an additional 161 shares during the period. Finally, Argent Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 11.3% during the 3rd quarter. Argent Advisors Inc. now owns 5,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $531,000 after buying an additional 568 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $89.32 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $98.35 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.70 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.75. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $82.78 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.52 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.63.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 15.42%.Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.39 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 73.27%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. KeyCorp reduced their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $76.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, December 12th. UBS Group cut their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Wells Fargo & Company cut Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $97.00 to $84.00 in a report on Tuesday, January 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, December 15th. Finally, Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and three have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.91.

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.