Mawer Investment Management Ltd. Grows Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mawer Investment Management Ltd. lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.8% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 1,086,175 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 139,712 shares during the period. Mawer Investment Management Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $97,951,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Capital International Investors lifted its position in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank increased its stake in Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates increased its stake in shares of Southern by 5.7% in the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $245,113,000 after acquiring an additional 145,810 shares during the period. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3.3% in the third quarter. Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. now owns 2,619,995 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $236,271,000 after acquiring an additional 82,946 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO traded down $0.89 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $87.04. 17,800 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,423,298. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.45, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $89.85 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $84.37.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.31%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other 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 transaction 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. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.