Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Purchased by Janney Montgomery Scott LLC

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC raised its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 383,517 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 9,648 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $37,017,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after buying an additional 1,643,090 shares during the period. Capital World Investors raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,587,589,000 after acquiring an additional 7,593,224 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its position in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,436,212 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,259,125 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,381,344,000 after acquiring an additional 384,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $1,111,450,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $97.00 on Monday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $93.49 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $109.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.68, a PEG ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The business’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. Analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.35%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Mizuho set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Barclays lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, April 10th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Finally, Evercore raised shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.26.

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.