Shelton Capital Management Has $14.84 Million Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Shelton Capital Management grew its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 700.6% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 161,618 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 141,430 shares during the quarter. Shelton Capital Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $14,841,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 0.9% in the 2nd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,006,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,377,494,000 after purchasing an additional 241,572 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the second quarter worth $1,179,715,000. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,003,419,000 after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.3% during the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $621,567,000 after purchasing an additional 87,891 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.6%

SO opened at $90.78 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.73 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.52. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $99.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. 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 (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion for 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 revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.39 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. 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 73.27%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently issued reports on the company. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group restated a “hold” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Tuesday, November 25th. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underperform” rating and set a $97.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.03.

Southern Company 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.