Mizuho Securities USA LLC Has $1.32 Billion Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Southern comprises about 3.5% of Mizuho Securities USA LLC's holdings, making the stock its 8th biggest holding. Mizuho Securities USA LLC owned 1.34% of Southern worth $1,320,866,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the stock. Blair William & Co. IL lifted its stake in Southern by 1.6% in the 1st quarter. Blair William & Co. IL now owns 91,898 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,593,000 after acquiring an additional 1,415 shares in the last quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 8.5% in the 1st quarter. Dorsey & Whitney Trust CO LLC now owns 4,098 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $294,000 after acquiring an additional 321 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $890,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. M&G Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $5,648,000. Finally, First Foundation Advisors acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $66,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a "buy" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an "underweight" rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $89.27.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded up $1.15 during trading on Friday, hitting $87.93. The company had a trading volume of 4,464,526 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,443,138. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $89.85 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $84.23. 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 $96.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company's stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by 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.