Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. Makes New Investment in Southern Company (The) $SO

Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund purchased 2,766,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $264,829,000.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. OneDigital Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $15,445,000. R.H. Investment Group LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the second quarter worth $222,000. Bell Investment Advisors Inc acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth $36,000. AMG National Trust Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth $418,000. Finally, Simplicity Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at $4,143,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $92.42 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.34. 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 business has a fifty day moving average of $94.71 and a 200 day moving average of $94.37. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. 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 payout ratio is 72.90%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Barclays lowered their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th. Seaport Research Partners downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Truist Financial dropped their price target on Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.09.

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.