Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Holdings Cut by New York State Teachers Retirement System

New York State Teachers Retirement System lowered its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 7.4% during the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 840,874 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 66,997 shares during the period. New York State Teachers Retirement System owned about 0.08% of Southern worth $77,318,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Albion Financial Group UT increased its stake in shares of Southern by 6.0% in the first quarter. Albion Financial Group UT now owns 83,044 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,636,000 after purchasing an additional 4,734 shares during the period. Amalgamated Bank increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Amalgamated Bank now owns 216,767 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $19,932,000 after purchasing an additional 2,067 shares during the period. Verity Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 100.0% in the first quarter. Verity Asset Management Inc. now owns 18,212 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,675,000 after purchasing an additional 9,107 shares during the period. Shilanski & Associates Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the first quarter. Shilanski & Associates Inc. now owns 61,699 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $5,673,000 after purchasing an additional 433 shares during the period. Finally, BankPlus Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $216,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.5%

Southern stock opened at $90.78 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. The firm has a market cap of $99.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.67, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $0.74 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm's 50 day moving average price is $89.69 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.58.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The company's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.93.

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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