Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. Has $1.98 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.9% in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 21,992 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,031 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,983,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at $576,000. Swiss National Bank boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. grew its stake in Southern by 149.5% during the second quarter. Burke & Herbert Bank & Trust Co. now owns 16,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,259,000 after purchasing an additional 9,726 shares during the period. HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 219.4% in the third quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after purchasing an additional 6,162 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Triad Wealth Partners LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the second quarter valued at approximately $455,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were 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 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO opened at $88.41 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.70 and a 200 day moving average of $84.86. The firm has a market cap of $96.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.56, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 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 posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 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 given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.26%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America lifted their target price on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.47.

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.