Southern Company (The) $SO Stock Position Reduced by Armor Investment Advisors LLC

Armor Investment Advisors LLC decreased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.8% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 20,975 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 596 shares during the quarter. Armor Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,926,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter worth $510,229,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC increased its position in Southern by 9,099.6% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $406,011,000 after purchasing an additional 4,373,271 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in Southern by 1.6% in the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694,066 shares during the last quarter. Soundwatch Capital LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth about $103,342,000. Finally, Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings 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 valued at $124,059,000 after buying an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

Shares of SO stock opened at $89.17 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.84 and its 200 day simple moving average is $92.44. 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 posted 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. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.3%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 73.27%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company began coverage on Southern in a report on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $97.00 price objective on the stock. TD Cowen started coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have given a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

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.