Courier Capital LLC Raises Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Courier Capital LLC lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.4% during the first quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 31,340 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,320 shares during the quarter. Courier Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,882,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $889,490,000 after acquiring an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have commented on SO shares. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.64.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

SO opened at $88.26 on Monday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.70 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.28. The firm has a market cap of $97.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.01, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Southern’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s payout ratio is 70.64%.

About Southern

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.