Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. Has $330,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Brown Lisle Cummings Inc. lessened its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% during the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 121 shares during the period. Brown Lisle Cummings Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $330,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Capital International Investors increased its stake in Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the 2nd quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,670,000 after buying an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. grew its position in Southern by 7,657.0% in the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $44,304,000 after acquiring an additional 563,785 shares during the period. Capital Research Global Investors raised its stake in Southern by 35.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,457,000 after acquiring an additional 500,000 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after acquiring an additional 481,071 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. 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 report on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley increased their target price on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.07.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $93.24 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The firm has a market cap of $101.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.09, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $64.53 and a 52 week high of $93.35. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.81 and its 200 day simple moving average is $81.79.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 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 3.09%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The shares were 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 directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $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 is available at this link. 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, 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 SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.