D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. Buys New Shares in Southern Company (The) $SO

D L Carlson Investment Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor purchased 46,430 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,444,000.

A number of other large investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Evergreen Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth $25,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the first quarter valued at $25,000. Ankerstar Wealth LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $27,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp acquired a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. Barclays cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Truist Financial decreased their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Mizuho set a $106.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, July 31st. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price target on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, July 22nd. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $91.47 on Friday. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The business has a 50-day moving average of $94.62 and a 200-day moving average of $94.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $105.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.94, a PEG ratio of 1.77 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.58 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 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.