Simplicity Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Southern Company (The) $SO

Simplicity Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 43,287 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,143,000.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evergreen Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter worth about $25,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the first quarter worth about $25,000. Ankerstar Wealth LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $27,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $27,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $100.09.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $92.83 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $106.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.26, a PEG ratio of 1.78 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a quick ratio of 0.59, a current ratio of 0.79 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.69 and a 200 day simple moving average of $94.35. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $83.80 and a 52 week high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.23 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 72.90%.

About Southern

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.