Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Bought by First Horizon Corp

First Horizon Corp grew its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 29.6% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 201,941 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 46,102 shares during the period. First Horizon Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $19,491,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $1,111,450,000. Capital World Investors increased its position in Southern by 22.6% during the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,587,589,000 after purchasing an additional 7,593,224 shares during the period. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Southern by 18.7% during 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 in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after buying an additional 1,867,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,422,606,000 after buying an additional 1,643,090 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Truist Financial decreased their price target on Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, May 29th. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 price objective on Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. Barclays reduced their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, June 18th. Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research report on Saturday, June 20th. Finally, Mizuho set a $105.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 1st. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.26.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $95.11 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $93.99 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market cap of $107.22 billion, a PE ratio of 24.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.34. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $83.80 and a 1 year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.23 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Southern Company 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.