NFP Retirement Inc. Has $471,000 Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

NFP Retirement Inc. lowered its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 19.7% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 5,131 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,259 shares during the quarter. NFP Retirement Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $471,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. PKS Advisory Services LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at $214,000. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.5% during the second quarter. Ensign Peak Advisors Inc now owns 3,007,951 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $276,220,000 after buying an additional 72,341 shares in the last quarter. Empirical Finance LLC raised its position in Southern by 0.7% during the second quarter. Empirical Finance LLC now owns 37,775 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,469,000 after buying an additional 246 shares during the period. Anfield Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 309.5% in the 2nd quarter. Anfield Capital Management LLC now owns 430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $39,000 after acquiring an additional 325 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Stonebrook Private Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth about $207,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $88.51 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $93.97 and a two-hundred day moving average of $92.45. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The company has a market capitalization of $97.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.75, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 73.27%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Evercore ISI began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. BTIG Research started coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, October 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $97.00 price target on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

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.