Temasek Holdings Private Ltd Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Temasek Holdings Private Ltd bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the third quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 36,336 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $3,277,000.

Several other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $577,657,000 after acquiring an additional 52,414 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates lifted its stake in Southern by 5.7% in the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Sumitomo Mitsui Trust Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 3.3% during the 3rd 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. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target 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. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Bank of America increased their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a "hold" rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $89.47.

Southern Stock Down 1.8 %

Shares of Southern stock traded down $1.51 on Friday, reaching $84.68. 1,929,428 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,414,533. The company has a market capitalization of $92.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.68, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.51. 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 50-day moving average of $89.47 and a 200 day moving average of $85.28. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.40%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 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 represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern 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.