Sabal Trust CO Buys 1,490 Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Sabal Trust CO grew its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 0.6% during the first quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 254,586 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,490 shares during the quarter. Sabal Trust CO’s holdings in Southern were worth $23,409,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp grew its holdings in Southern by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $889,490,000 after purchasing an additional 460,594 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted 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 purchasing an additional 194,114 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised 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. Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.38 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.57, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $89.74 and its 200 day moving average is $87.44. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.03 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 70.64%.

Southern Profile

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.