1832 Asset Management L.P. Buys 841,435 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2,719.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 841,435 shares during the quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. owned approximately 0.08% of Southern worth $67,670,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after buying an additional 481,071 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its holdings in Southern by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after buying an additional 7,550,570 shares during the last quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP raised its holdings in Southern by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,457,000 after purchasing an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates raised its holdings in Southern by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $199,528,000 after purchasing an additional 452,075 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $197,192,000 after purchasing an additional 51,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $86.33.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $89.70 on Monday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $86.20 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.95. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $90.34. 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 $98.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

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.