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

Mosley Wealth Management increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.4% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,457 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 386 shares during the period. Mosley Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $16,067,000. Summit Financial LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter worth approximately $1,288,000. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 382.0% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,998,000 after buying an additional 33,120 shares during the period. Nwam LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.8% in the first quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $890,000 after buying an additional 937 shares during the period. Finally, Angeles Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 13.3% in the fourth quarter. Angeles Investment Advisors LLC now owns 5,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $365,000 after buying an additional 612 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.71.

Southern Stock Down 1.2 %

NYSE SO traded down $1.10 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $88.41. 4,614,282 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,798,487. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company has a market cap of $96.67 billion, a PE ratio of 22.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.99 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.27. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $90.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern’s payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,301,597.31. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, 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 value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 21,280 shares of company stock valued at $1,678,625 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is currently 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.