Plan Group Financial LLC Acquires New Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Plan Group Financial LLC acquired a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 37,485 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $3,588,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Marble Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $4,443,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. grew its stake in Southern by 20.5% in the fourth quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 99,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,667,000 after purchasing an additional 16,878 shares during the last quarter. Wolverine Asset Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $2,462,000. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. raised its holdings in Southern by 19.6% in the fourth quarter. Mirae Asset Global Investments Co. Ltd. now owns 201,137 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,539,000 after purchasing an additional 32,933 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Mawer Investment Management Ltd. raised its holdings in Southern by 121.4% in the fourth quarter. Mawer Investment Management Ltd. now owns 1,767,773 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $154,150,000 after purchasing an additional 969,493 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have commented on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Truist Financial reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.09.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $92.83 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $94.69 and a 200 day moving average price of $94.31. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.79 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.34. 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 Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.23 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 72.90%.

Southern 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.