Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. Raises Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 18.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 106,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 16,913 shares during the quarter. Baltimore Washington Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $9,775,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Equitable Trust Co. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,171,000 after buying an additional 6,843 shares during the last quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC now owns 7,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $656,000 after acquiring an additional 1,366 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 5.5% during the 2nd quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Trust & Banking Corp now owns 822,403 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $75,521,000 after acquiring an additional 42,531 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after acquiring an additional 1,694,066 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at about $2,352,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $90.32 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.22, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.78 and its 200-day simple moving average is $92.42. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $100.83. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently commented on the stock. KeyCorp increased their price target on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Southern in a report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. Evercore ISI started coverage on Southern in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Barclays reduced their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have assigned a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

Southern Company Profile

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.