Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Holdings Trimmed by Truist Financial Corp

Truist Financial Corp trimmed its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 2.0% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 751,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 15,185 shares during the period. Truist Financial Corp owned approximately 0.07% of Southern worth $69,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investors Research Corp grew its position in Southern by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth $39,000. Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $37,000. Elequin Capital LP boosted its position in shares of Southern by 60.6% during the 4th quarter. Elequin Capital LP now owns 498 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $41,000 after purchasing an additional 188 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Curat Global LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, 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 for the company. One 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 company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

SO traded down $0.01 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $91.50. 697,143 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,664,142. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.74 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.90. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $77.62 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $100.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.23%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Southern Profile

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.