Capital Advisors Inc. OK Raises Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Capital Advisors Inc. OK raised its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,139,024 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 99,735 shares during the period. Southern comprises 1.6% of Capital Advisors Inc. OK’s holdings, making the stock its 12th largest position. Capital Advisors Inc. OK’s holdings in Southern were worth $109,016,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $4,443,000. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $2,462,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 121.4% during the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,150,000 after acquiring an additional 969,493 shares during the last quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp raised its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 11,448 shares during the last quarter. Finally, M&T Bank Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 7.1% in the fourth quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 158,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,803,000 after acquiring an additional 10,531 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Mizuho set a $106.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Seven 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. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.09.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $88.18 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average is $94.12 and its two-hundred day moving average is $94.38. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $100.83. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $101.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.15, a PEG ratio of 1.69 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 72.90%.

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.