Kingsview Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in Southern Company (The) $SO

Kingsview Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund purchased 41,582 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,980,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,111,450,000. Legal & General Group Plc purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at $737,256,000. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,587,589,000 after buying an additional 7,593,224 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,004,866,000 after buying an additional 5,436,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth $264,829,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. KeyCorp lowered Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.09.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $88.18 on Friday. The firm has a market cap of $101.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.12 and a 200-day simple moving average of $94.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.23 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Southern Company 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.