HighTower Advisors LLC Decreases Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• HighTower Advisors reduced its Southern Company stake by 2.6% in the second quarter, selling 38,891 shares and retaining 1.48 million shares valued at approximately $141.4 million. Institutional investors collectively own 64.1% of the company.
• Analyst sentiment is mixed, with seven Buy, eleven Hold, and two Sell ratings; the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $100.09.
• Southern reported quarterly EPS of $1.13, exceeding estimates by $0.12, while revenue reached $6.98 billion. The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76, equivalent to a 3.5% annualized yield.

HighTower Advisors LLC reduced its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2.6% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 1,476,938 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 38,891 shares during the period. HighTower Advisors LLC owned 0.13% of Southern worth $141,358,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. California State Teachers Retirement System boosted its stake in Southern by 9,736.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 125,596,883 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $12,020,878,000 after acquiring an additional 124,319,975 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $1,111,450,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth $737,256,000. Capital World Investors boosted its position in shares of Southern by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,587,589,000 after purchasing an additional 7,593,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its stake in Southern by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,004,866,000 after buying an additional 5,436,212 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $79.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of SO stock opened at $87.90 on Monday. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.12 billion, a PE ratio of 21.08, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.79. The stock's 50-day simple moving average is $93.40 and its 200-day simple moving average is $94.25.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The company's revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 72.90%.

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.

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