Mosley Wealth Management Has $1 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Mosley Wealth Management increased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 13.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 12,100 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,404 shares during the quarter. Mosley Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,002,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $326,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after acquiring an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 31.6% during the 4th quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 48,383 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,983,000 after purchasing an additional 11,605 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.21 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $67.53 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $86.69 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.25. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 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.