Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Purchased by PNC Financial Services Group Inc.

PNC Financial Services Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 522,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 3,760 shares during the period. PNC Financial Services Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $47,938,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the first quarter worth $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 125.4% during the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,789,000 after purchasing an additional 623,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 71.4% in the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,253,000 after purchasing an additional 499,996 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. TD Cowen began coverage on Southern in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada raised Southern to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.56.

Southern Trading Down 0.8%

Southern stock opened at $91.11 on Friday. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $94.13 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.50. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $100.83. The stock has a market cap of $100.32 billion, a PE ratio of 23.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The company 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 firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.39 EPS. Equities research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 73.27%.

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.