Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co Buys 1,099 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co raised its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 27,098 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,099 shares during the quarter. Elo Mutual Pension Insurance Co’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,488,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Advisors Asset Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Advisors Asset Management Inc. now owns 58,714 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $5,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,360 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings 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 period. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 12.7% in the second quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 3,661 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $336,000 after acquiring an additional 412 shares during the period. CreativeOne Wealth LLC boosted its position in Southern by 11.5% during the 2nd quarter. CreativeOne Wealth LLC now owns 25,025 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,298,000 after acquiring an additional 2,583 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Summit Global Investments boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.9% during the 2nd quarter. Summit Global Investments now owns 9,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $863,000 after buying an additional 264 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note on Saturday, November 15th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.03.

Southern Stock Up 1.2%

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.32 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $99.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $93.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.42.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.39 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.27%.

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.