Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Soroban Capital Partners LP

Soroban Capital Partners LP lessened its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 61.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,375,511 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,718,097 shares during the period. Southern comprises approximately 0.4% of Soroban Capital Partners LP’s holdings, making the stock its 16th biggest holding. Soroban Capital Partners LP owned about 0.21% of Southern worth $229,284,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC raised its position in Southern by 135.6% in the first quarter. Gateway Wealth Partners LLC now owns 35,564 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,433,000 after purchasing an additional 20,471 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group boosted its position in shares of Southern by 19.3% in the first quarter. Cypress Capital Group now owns 5,183 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $500,000 after buying an additional 839 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 29.2% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 50,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,887,000 after buying an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. Van Diest Capital LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 15.9% in the first quarter. Van Diest Capital LLC now owns 3,066 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $296,000 after buying an additional 420 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waverly Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the 1st quarter. Waverly Advisors LLC now owns 335,427 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,375,000 after buying an additional 1,070 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently commented on SO. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Seaport Research Partners downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Mizuho set a $105.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 1st. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.21.

Southern Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:SO opened at $96.45 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $108.73 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.90 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year 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 business’s 50-day simple moving average is $94.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $93.80.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The firm had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.23 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.