Mosley Wealth Management Boosts Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mosley Wealth Management lifted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.1% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,404 shares during the quarter. Mosley Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. GSA Capital Partners LLP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $302,000. Connor Clark & Lunn Investment Management Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at about $8,439,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 13.2% in the third quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 45,192 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,075,000 after buying an additional 5,266 shares in the last quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 19.3% in the third quarter. Pacer Advisors Inc. now owns 126,185 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,379,000 after acquiring an additional 20,443 shares during the period. Finally, Nwam LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $1,032,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have recently commented on SO. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $91.46.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.21 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $86.69 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.25. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.