Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC Decreases Stock Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC cut its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 10.7% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 486,798 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 58,285 shares during the period. Allspring Global Investments Holdings LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $44,698,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 56.6% in the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,000 after purchasing an additional 1,282 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005 shares in the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 4.2% in the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares in the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 16,464.2% in the 4th quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 31,969 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 31,776 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $90.78 on Monday. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $0.74 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $89.69 and a 200-day moving average of $87.58. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.67, a PEG ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The business's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.26%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on SO. UBS Group upped their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.93.

About Southern

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.

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