Van ECK Associates Corp Raises Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Van ECK Associates Corp raised its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 6.4% during the third quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 420,169 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 25,376 shares during the quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $39,819,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $25,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $29,000. Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $34,000. Chilton Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 120.1% in the 3rd quarter. Chilton Capital Management LLC now owns 361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $34,000 after buying an additional 197 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Aster Capital Management DIFC Ltd purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth $35,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $96.21 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $105.93 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.48, a P/E/G ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.44. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $91.36 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.51. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.50 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 75.32%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Truist Financial set a $103.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, February 20th. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, February 20th. UBS Group cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $94.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, December 17th. Morgan Stanley reissued an “underweight” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Royal Bank Of Canada restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, January 23rd. Six equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.