Norris Perne & French LLP MI Has $1.05 Million Stock Position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Norris Perne & French LLP MI cut its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 95.0% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 216,965 shares during the period. Norris Perne & French LLP MI’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,049,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.5% in the 4th quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $889,490,000 after acquiring an additional 460,594 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $88.42 on Thursday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.18 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 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 $89.77 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.31.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Guggenheim reissued a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.93.

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.