Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Acquired by Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC

Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 115,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 6,128 shares during the period. Concurrent Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $11,041,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Uptick Partners LLC increased its stake in Southern by 1.5% during the 1st quarter. Uptick Partners LLC now owns 7,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $734,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.4% in the first quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 4,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $475,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. KCM Investment Advisors LLC increased its position 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 raised its stake in Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 15,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,395,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Leonteq Securities AG lifted its holdings in Southern by 4.7% in the 1st quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 2,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price target on Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.09.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $87.90 on Friday. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $93.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.26. 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 company has a market capitalization of $101.12 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.37 and a beta of 0.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its 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 firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.59 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 paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 72.90%.

About Southern

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.