Southern Company (The) $SO Stake Boosted by CI Investments Inc.

CI Investments Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 69.5% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 47,294 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 19,400 shares during the quarter. CI Investments Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,565,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,111,450,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in Southern by 22.6% during the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,587,589,000 after acquiring an additional 7,593,224 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD increased its position in 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 worth $3,004,866,000 after buying an additional 5,436,212 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Southern by 83.8% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $376,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,912 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after buying an additional 1,643,090 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Weiss Ratings raised shares of Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp cut Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday. Mizuho set a $105.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $100.09.

Southern Trading Up 0.8%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $96.53 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $83.80 and a 52-week high of $100.83. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $94.34 and a 200 day simple moving average of $93.67. The company has a market capitalization of $108.81 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 1.88 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 77.35%.

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.