Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC Purchases Shares of 50,247 Southern Company (The) $SO

Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm acquired 50,247 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $4,809,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,111,450,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $737,256,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in shares of Southern by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,587,589,000 after purchasing an additional 7,593,224 shares during the last quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,436,212 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $264,829,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Barclays cut their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $104.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective on the stock. in a report on Thursday, July 23rd. Seven research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $100.09.

Southern Trading Down 0.9%

NYSE SO opened at $88.94 on Friday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $94.22 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.42. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month high of $100.83. 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 $102.32 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.72 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be given a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 72.90%.

Southern Profile

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.