108,199 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Acquired by Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC

Thompson Siegel & Walmsley LLC acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 3rd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 108,199 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $9,757,000.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Acadian Asset Management LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% in the first quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 2,982 shares during the period. Bessemer Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 241.7% during the first quarter. Bessemer Group Inc. now owns 44,240 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,173,000 after buying an additional 31,292 shares during the last quarter. Pitcairn Co. increased its stake in Southern by 23.1% in the 1st quarter. Pitcairn Co. now owns 4,695 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $337,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 16.2% during the 1st quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,942 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,287,000 after buying an additional 2,508 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Southern by 35.0% in the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $138,457,000 after purchasing an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $88.14 on Friday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $89.77 and its 200-day moving average is $84.60. The company has a market cap of $96.57 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 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. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.27%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. One research 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.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, 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. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.