Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Purchases 51,472 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 46.8% during the third quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 161,539 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 51,472 shares during the period. Southern makes up 0.9% of Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $14,568,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings 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 in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of 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 holdings in shares of 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 holdings in shares of 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, Capital Research Global Investors lifted its stake in Southern by 35.0% during the 1st quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $138,457,000 after acquiring an additional 500,000 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Down 0.6 %

Shares of SO opened at $93.61 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.18 and a 200 day moving average of $82.20. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $102.36 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.29, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business 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 $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.08%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 68.57%.

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.