Swiss National Bank Lowers Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Swiss National Bank cut its stake in Southern Company by 4.6% in Q3, selling 152,100 shares and now holds 3,168,100 shares (about 0.29%) valued at roughly $300.24 million.
• Other large institutional moves include Norges Bank opening a new position of about $1.18 billion and Vanguard holding 105.9 million shares (~$9.73 billion); overall institutional investors own 64.10% of the company.
• Analysts have a consensus rating of Hold with a $98.08 target; Southern slightly missed quarterly EPS by $0.01 while revenue rose 10.1%, and it pays a $0.74 quarterly dividend (about a 3.0% yield).

Swiss National Bank cut its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 4.6% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 3,168,100 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 152,100 shares during the quarter. Swiss National Bank owned about 0.29% of Southern worth $300,241,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,179,715,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 9,099.6% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $406,011,000 after purchasing an additional 4,373,271 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 83.8% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $376,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,912 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,725,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694,066 shares during the period. Finally, Soundwatch Capital LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $103,342,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities analysts have commented on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Jefferies Financial Group reissued a "hold" rating and set a $102.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, February 23rd. Royal Bank Of Canada reaffirmed a "sector perform" rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho set a $104.00 target price on Southern and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $98.08.

Southern Stock Up 0.6%

SO stock opened at $97.75 on Monday. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company's 50-day moving average price is $90.81 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.45. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.09 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $107.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.87, a P/E/G ratio of 2.94 and a beta of 0.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.41 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

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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