GAM Holding AG Buys Shares of 27,006 Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

GAM Holding AG bought a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor bought 27,006 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $2,483,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Proficio Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 56.6% during 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 during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.2% during 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 during the last quarter. M&T Bank Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% during 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 during the last quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 16,464.2% during 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 129.9% during the 4th quarter. Y Intercept Hong Kong Ltd now owns 18,042 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,485,000 after purchasing an additional 10,194 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.09 on Friday. The business's 50-day moving average is $89.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.33. The company has a market capitalization of $97.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.96 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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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