Liberty One Investment Management LLC Grows Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Liberty One Investment Management increased its Southern Company stake by 13.6% in Q1, buying 36,434 additional shares and bringing its position to 304,312 shares worth about $29.4 million.
• Wall Street remains cautious on Southern: analysts have a consensus Hold rating with an average price target of $100.09, while recent target adjustments have mostly been modest cuts or neutral calls.
• Southern reported strong first-quarter results, with earnings of $1.32 per share beating expectations and revenue of $8.40 billion topping estimates, and it also declared a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share.

Liberty One Investment Management LLC grew its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 13.6% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 304,312 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 36,434 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for about 3.0% of Liberty One Investment Management LLC's investment portfolio, making the stock its 9th biggest holding. Liberty One Investment Management LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $29,372,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Evergreen Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Ankerstar Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $29,000. Finally, Cornerstone Financial Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $27,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price target on Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Truist Financial cut their price objective on Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Barclays reduced their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Seaport Research Partners lowered Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $100.09.

Southern Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $96.53 on Friday. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $83.80 and a 12-month high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $108.81 billion, a PE ratio of 24.56, a P/E/G ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.34. The business has a 50 day moving average of $94.34 and a 200-day moving average of $93.67. The company has a quick ratio of 0.45, a current ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The firm'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, equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 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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