Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA Sells 696,149 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA lessened its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.7% during the third quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 25,166,223 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 696,149 shares during the period. Southern accounts for 0.7% of Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings, making the stock its 28th largest holding. Massachusetts Financial Services Co. MA’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,269,490,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 1,361.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $229,000 after acquiring an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 241.7% in the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,173,000 after purchasing an additional 31,292 shares during the period. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 31.5% in the first quarter. Lake Street Advisors Group LLC now owns 6,093 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $437,000 after purchasing an additional 1,459 shares in the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. lifted its position in Southern by 23.1% during the first quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $337,000 after buying an additional 881 shares during the period. Finally, Shell Asset Management Co. grew its position in shares of Southern by 20.3% in the 1st quarter. Shell Asset Management Co. now owns 22,641 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,624,000 after buying an additional 3,816 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the chief executive officer now 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was 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 $3,981,575.18. The trade was 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 owned by insiders.

Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $87.97 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $84.57. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.39 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.46, a PEG ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. 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 posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (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 the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank lifted 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. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lifted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

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.