Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC Raises Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC grew its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 89.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 607,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 286,996 shares during the period. Brandywine Global Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $50,043,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after purchasing an additional 698,422 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its position in Southern by 3.0% in the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Finally, Raymond James Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $91.10 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.34 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.26.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (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%. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.16%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Southern Company Profile

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.