Royal London Asset Management Ltd. Increases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Royal London Asset Management Ltd. boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 19.1% during the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 78,028 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 12,509 shares during the quarter. Royal London Asset Management Ltd.'s holdings in Southern were worth $7,037,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its stake 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 worth $135,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,816 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in 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 worth $67,670,000 after purchasing an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its stake in Southern by 7,657.0% in the 2nd quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $44,304,000 after purchasing an additional 563,785 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates raised its position in shares of Southern by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $199,528,000 after buying an additional 452,075 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, 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 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.52 during trading on Monday, hitting $84.29. The company's stock had a trading volume of 2,028,581 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,415,684. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $89.36 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $85.40. The company has a market capitalization of $92.35 billion, a PE ratio of 19.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.09 and a beta of 0.51. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company's revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.42%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on SO shares. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Mizuho lowered shares of Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Guggenheim lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.00.

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.