Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Has $3.13 Million Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co increased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 21.8% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 33,002 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,904 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,128,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 2.3% in the third quarter. Journey Strategic Wealth LLC now owns 10,820 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 248 shares during the last quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 17.6% in the 3rd quarter. PKS Advisory Services LLC now owns 2,744 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $260,000 after purchasing an additional 411 shares during the last quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 6.8% during the third quarter. RFP Financial Group LLC now owns 18,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,638,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162 shares during the period. Finemark National Bank & Trust grew its holdings in Southern by 47.0% during the third quarter. Finemark National Bank & Trust now owns 6,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $605,000 after purchasing an additional 2,043 shares during the period. Finally, Aprio Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 13.5% during the third quarter. Aprio Wealth Management LLC now owns 15,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,499,000 after buying an additional 1,879 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Mizuho set a $104.00 target price on Southern and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southern and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Finally, KeyCorp decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $76.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, December 12th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $97.64.

Southern Trading Down 0.3%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $96.92 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.65. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $90.19 and a 200-day moving average of $91.37. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $83.09 and a 52-week high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $106.72 billion, a PE ratio of 24.66, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.41 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.Southern’s revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

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.