Nepsis Inc. cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 7.7% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,393 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,696 shares during the period. Southern accounts for about 1.0% of Nepsis Inc.'s holdings, making the stock its 25th biggest position. Nepsis Inc.'s holdings in Southern were worth $4,082,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.
Other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its holdings in Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in Southern by 11,230.1% in the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its position in Southern by 562.9% in the fourth quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $112,679,000 after purchasing an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.
Analysts Set New Price Targets
A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SO. KeyCorp lowered Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Evercore ISI increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 target price on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.00.
Check Out Our Latest Stock Analysis on Southern
Southern Stock Performance
Southern stock traded down $0.14 during mid-day trading on Friday, reaching $90.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,059,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,556,378. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $76.96 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.71 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.33. The firm has a market cap of $99.16 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.50, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38.
Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Southern Increases Dividend
The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.28%. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 70.64%.
Southern Profile
(
Free Report)
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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