Mather Group LLC. Increases Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mather Group LLC. boosted its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.3% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 19,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,173 shares during the quarter. Mather Group LLC.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,379,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Avestar Capital LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $224,000. Brookstone Capital Management grew its position in Southern by 3.6% in the 3rd quarter. Brookstone Capital Management now owns 66,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,432,000 after buying an additional 2,342 shares during the last quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. ST Germain D J Co. Inc. now owns 5,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $338,000 after buying an additional 400 shares during the period. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Commonwealth Equity Services LLC now owns 947,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $61,308,000 after acquiring an additional 15,059 shares during the period. Finally, Home Federal Bank of Tennessee boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.2% in the third quarter. Home Federal Bank of Tennessee now owns 8,724 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $565,000 after acquiring an additional 431 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have recently commented on the company. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.36.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 in the last three months. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $74.39 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $75.80. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $69.80 and its 200 day simple moving average is $69.45. The company has a market capitalization of $81.43 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.49, a PEG ratio of 4.59 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.26 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.87%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 77.14%.

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.