Wedbush Securities Inc. Has $2.06 Million Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Wedbush Securities Inc. boosted its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 22,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 697 shares during the period. Wedbush Securities Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,056,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in Southern by 125.4% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,059,000 after acquiring an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 40.5% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,789,000 after acquiring an additional 623,417 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its position in Southern by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,253,000 after purchasing an additional 499,996 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 0.5%

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $91.39 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market cap of $100.63 billion, a PE ratio of 23.49, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $94.19 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.50. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp upped their price target on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded Southern to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.56.

Southern Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.