Southern Company (The) $SO Position Lifted by Saudi Central Bank

Saudi Central Bank grew its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 94.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 78,911 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 38,268 shares during the quarter. Saudi Central Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $7,553,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Marble Wealth LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $4,443,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its stake in Southern by 121.4% during the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,150,000 after acquiring an additional 969,493 shares during the period. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 29.2% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 50,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,887,000 after acquiring an additional 11,448 shares during the last quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc lifted its holdings in Southern by 114.2% in the fourth quarter. MUFG Securities EMEA plc now owns 45,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,934,000 after acquiring an additional 24,056 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Glenmede Trust Co. NA boosted its stake in Southern by 19.1% in the first quarter. Glenmede Trust Co. NA now owns 92,289 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,908,000 after acquiring an additional 14,798 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on Southern in a report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays cut their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Mizuho set a $106.00 price objective on Southern in a research report on Friday, July 31st. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.09.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $87.90 on Friday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.40 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $94.26. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $101.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. 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 3.5%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 72.90%.

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.