Tidal Investments LLC Sells 5,872 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Tidal Investments LLC cut its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.9% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 53,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,872 shares during the quarter. Tidal Investments LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,110,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 3.5% during the 2nd quarter. Van Hulzen Asset Management LLC now owns 6,221 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $595,000 after purchasing an additional 210 shares in the last quarter. National Pension Service raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the second quarter. National Pension Service now owns 2,932,978 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,715,000 after buying an additional 54,111 shares in the last quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP raised its position in shares of Southern by 45.5% in the second quarter. Engineers Gate Manager LP now owns 9,821 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $940,000 after buying an additional 3,072 shares in the last quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 6.9% during the second quarter. Cidel Asset Management Inc. now owns 8,659 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $829,000 after buying an additional 557 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Analysts LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 23.8% during the second quarter. Capital Analysts LLC now owns 3,591 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $344,000 after buying an additional 690 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, August 13th. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Mizuho set a $106.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Stock Up 0.1%

Shares of SO opened at $87.29 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $100.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.33. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.54 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $94.06. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. 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 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion for 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 business’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 72.90%.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.