Trajan Wealth LLC Purchases Shares of 85,436 Southern Company (The) $SO

Trajan Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 85,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $8,177,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643,090 shares during the period. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Southern by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,587,589,000 after acquiring an additional 7,593,224 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in Southern by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,436,212 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,259,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,381,344,000 after purchasing an additional 384,860 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $1,111,450,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SO. Wall Street Zen cut Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price target on Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. Finally, 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. Seven investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $100.09.

Southern Stock Up 1.3%

NYSE SO opened at $90.10 on Tuesday. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $103.65 billion, a PE ratio of 21.61, a PEG ratio of 1.71 and a beta of 0.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.44. 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 (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current 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 given 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 payout ratio 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.