The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.

Brown Brothers Harriman & Co. lessened its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.0% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,961 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 425 shares during the period. Brown Brothers Harriman & Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,626,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Gilbert & Cook Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.3% in the fourth quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 11,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $785,000 after purchasing an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $233,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. SCP Investment LP purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $548,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 36,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,559,000 after purchasing an additional 5,018 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a research note on Monday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.90 on Tuesday. The company has a market cap of $98.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $85.38 and its 200-day moving average is $78.35. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $90.34. 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 issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

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.