Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. Acquires 544 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc. increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.4% in the third quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 7,019 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 544 shares during the quarter. Lowe Brockenbrough & Co. Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $633,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of SO. Capital International Investors lifted its stake in Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 8,741.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after buying an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after purchasing an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,304,000 after purchasing an additional 563,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors boosted its position in Southern by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,457,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Morgan Stanley lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.27.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $88.54 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $89.74 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $83.26. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market cap of $96.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.59, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.90% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.