Southern Company (The) $SO Position Reduced by Cape Investment Advisory Inc.

Cape Investment Advisory Inc. trimmed its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 90.2% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 2,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 21,680 shares during the quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $224,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Empowered Funds LLC raised its stake in Southern by 17.5% during the 1st quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,003 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,127,000 after purchasing an additional 5,067 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 59,217 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,438,000 after purchasing an additional 393 shares in the last quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 5.0% in the second quarter. Nomura Asset Management Co. Ltd. now owns 389,010 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,723,000 after buying an additional 18,619 shares during the period. Nordwand Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the second quarter valued at $262,000. Finally, Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 26.5% during the second quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Planning Services Inc. now owns 7,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $686,000 after buying an additional 1,566 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on the company. Truist Financial set a $103.00 price objective on Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Barclays lowered their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. UBS Group reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, December 17th. Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southern and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $98.08.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $96.55 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.47. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $92.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.69. The firm has a market cap of $106.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.57, a PEG ratio of 2.97 and a beta of 0.44.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s payout ratio is 75.32%.

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.