Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. Buys New Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Canandaigua National Bank & Trust Co. purchased a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund purchased 37,115 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,552,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Uptick Partners LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the 1st quarter. Uptick Partners LLC now owns 7,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.4% during the 1st quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 4,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $475,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the first quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC now owns 34,328 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,313,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 15,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG increased its holdings in Southern by 4.7% in the first quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 2,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.6%

NYSE SO opened at $93.49 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.55 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.12. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month 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 company has a market capitalization of $107.54 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.79 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 72.90%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley restated an “underweight” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday. Finally, Mizuho set a $106.00 target price on Southern in a research note on Friday. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.26.

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.