Brown Financial Advisory Takes $220,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Brown Financial Advisory acquired a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 3rd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund acquired 2,443 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $220,000.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the stock. Aviance Capital Partners LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $530,000. Diversified Trust Co raised its position in Southern by 1.8% in the first quarter. Diversified Trust Co now owns 15,325 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,099,000 after purchasing an additional 272 shares during the last quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 309.9% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 14,871 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,067,000 after buying an additional 11,243 shares during the period. Naviter Wealth LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 10.9% in the 1st quarter. Naviter Wealth LLC now owns 22,468 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,612,000 after buying an additional 2,209 shares during the last quarter. Finally, IVC Wealth Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. IVC Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $474,000 after acquiring an additional 258 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.1 %

SO opened at $91.79 on Tuesday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $89.50 and a 200 day moving average of $82.76. 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $100.37 billion, a PE ratio of 21.85, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.14%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 68.57%.

Southern Company 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.