30,673 Shares in Southern Company (The) $SO Acquired by Cibc World Market Inc.

Cibc World Market Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm acquired 30,673 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,936,000.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Marble Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $4,443,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 20.5% during the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 99,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,667,000 after buying an additional 16,878 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $2,462,000. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 121.4% during the 4th quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $154,150,000 after purchasing an additional 969,493 shares during the last quarter. Finally, OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 29.2% in the first quarter. OMERS ADMINISTRATION Corp now owns 50,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,887,000 after acquiring an additional 11,448 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, Truist Financial reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $89.88 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $94.31 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.43. The company has a market cap of $103.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.73 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders 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 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.4%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 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.