Caldwell Trust Co Purchases Shares of 24,055 Southern Company (The) $SO

Caldwell Trust Co acquired a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 24,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $2,209,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 13.5% during the 2nd quarter. Valeo Financial Advisors LLC now owns 20,004 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,837,000 after acquiring an additional 2,373 shares during the last quarter. V. M. Manning & CO. Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $257,000. Osaic Holdings Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 25.2% in the second quarter. Osaic Holdings Inc. now owns 624,649 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,391,000 after purchasing an additional 125,623 shares during the last quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.3% in the second quarter. Orion Porfolio Solutions LLC now owns 291,381 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,758,000 after purchasing an additional 17,159 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Silverlake Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.9% in the second quarter. Silverlake Wealth Management LLC now owns 10,875 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $999,000 after buying an additional 505 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underperform” rating and issued a $97.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, November 20th. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. TD Cowen began coverage on Southern in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They issued a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 price target for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, KeyCorp dropped their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $76.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a report on Friday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.50.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $84.44 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $92.20 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.32. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.90, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.45. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its 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 firm had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 15.42%.The business’s revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.39 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.27%.

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.