Jennison Associates LLC Boosts Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Southern Company by 20.9% in the first quarter, buying an additional 334,152 shares and bringing its total holding to 1.93 million shares worth about $186.3 million.
• Southern’s latest earnings beat expectations, with Q1 EPS of $1.32 versus the $1.21 estimate and revenue of $8.40 billion, up 8.0% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.76 per share, implying an annualized payout of $3.04 and a 3.2% yield.

Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 20.9% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 1,930,415 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 334,152 shares during the quarter. Jennison Associates LLC owned approximately 0.17% of Southern worth $186,324,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Empowered Funds LLC increased its position in Southern by 17.5% during the first quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 34,003 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,127,000 after buying an additional 5,067 shares during the period. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the second quarter. Schnieders Capital Management LLC. now owns 59,217 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,438,000 after acquiring an additional 393 shares during the period. WINTON GROUP Ltd purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth approximately $655,000. Sei Investments Co. grew its position in shares of Southern by 11.5% during the second quarter. Sei Investments Co. now owns 449,960 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,320,000 after acquiring an additional 46,504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Treasurer of the State of North Carolina increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.7% in the 2nd quarter. Treasurer of the State of North Carolina now owns 514,736 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $47,268,000 after acquiring an additional 13,392 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently commented on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday. Citigroup reissued a "buy" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Seaport Research Partners cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southern from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern from a "sell" rating to a "hold" rating in a research note on Saturday, June 20th. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $99.91.

Southern Trading Down 0.8%

Shares of SO stock opened at $95.33 on Friday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $94.19 and its 200 day moving average price is $93.40. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $107.47 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a P/E/G ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.Southern's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern's payout ratio is 77.35%.

Southern Profile

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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