Mission Wealth Management LP Raises Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mission Wealth Management LP boosted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 13,257 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 652 shares during the period. Mission Wealth Management LP’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,091,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Van ECK Associates Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 2.5% during the third quarter. Van ECK Associates Corp now owns 303,420 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,567,000 after buying an additional 7,527 shares during the last quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. grew its position in shares of Southern by 31.6% during the 3rd quarter. Robeco Institutional Asset Management B.V. now owns 138,447 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $12,485,000 after acquiring an additional 33,266 shares during the period. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Asset Management One Co. Ltd. now owns 487,433 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $43,957,000 after purchasing an additional 7,460 shares during the last quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 28.2% in the third quarter. QRG Capital Management Inc. now owns 123,834 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $11,167,000 after purchasing an additional 27,226 shares during the last quarter. Finally, PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in Southern by 24.2% in the third quarter. PDS Planning Inc now owns 3,717 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $335,000 after purchasing an additional 724 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the company. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.54.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 16,835 shares of company stock worth $1,451,754. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $89.95 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.43, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $84.68 and a 200 day moving average of $86.94. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

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.