Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc.

Key Points

• Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group trimmed its Southern Company stake by 5.7% in the first quarter, selling 147,638 shares and leaving it with 2.44 million shares valued at about $235.5 million.
• Southern beat earnings expectations in its latest quarter, reporting $1.32 EPS versus the $1.21 consensus and revenue of $8.40 billion, up 8% year over year.
• The company also raised its quarterly dividend to $0.76 per share from $0.74, implying an annualized yield of about 3.2%.

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. decreased its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 5.7% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 2,439,489 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 147,638 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned 0.22% of Southern worth $235,459,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,422,606,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643,090 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Southern by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,587,589,000 after acquiring an additional 7,593,224 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,436,212 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 27,259,125 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,381,344,000 after acquiring an additional 384,860 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $1,111,450,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Seaport Research Partners cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an "outperform" rating and issued a $104.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Weiss Ratings upgraded Southern from a "buy (b-)" rating to a "buy (b)" rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Mizuho set a $105.00 price objective on Southern in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "underweight" rating and issued a $89.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, June 24th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $99.26.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $95.11 on Friday. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $93.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.07. The stock has a market cap of $107.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.20, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. 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 quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 77.35%.

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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