Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. Has $240.68 Million Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 0.9% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 2,617,558 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 22,803 shares during the quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. owned about 0.24% of Southern worth $240,684,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investors Research Corp raised its stake in Southern by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $35,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $37,000. Elequin Capital LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Meeder Asset Management Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $44,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Wednesday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Up 0.4%

NYSE:SO traded up $0.37 on Monday, hitting $91.27. 578,820 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,612,119. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $89.69 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.58. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $0.74 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market cap of $100.31 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.76, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. Southern's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.24%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

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.