Asset Management One Co. Ltd. Boosts Holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Asset Management One Co. Ltd. raised its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 5.9% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 514,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 28,643 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd.'s holdings in Southern were worth $47,277,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investors Research Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $37,000. Elequin Capital LP raised its position in Southern by 60.6% in the fourth quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares during the period. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $44,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $90.90 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.86, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm has a market capitalization of $99.90 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.69, a PEG ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's fifty day simple moving average is $89.74 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.42. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.96 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

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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