Mission Wealth Management LP Has $1.28 Million Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.6% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 13,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 614 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,275,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its position in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC raised its stake in Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after buying an additional 1,162,288 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $88.41 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.17 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $76.96 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $89.76 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.30.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.35%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several recent research reports. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.00.

About Southern

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.