The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Holdings Decreased by Mackenzie Financial Corp

Mackenzie Financial Corp decreased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 434,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 63,828 shares during the quarter. Mackenzie Financial Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $30,432,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $6,444,343,000 after buying an additional 352,023 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC grew its stake in Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,857 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Southern by 1.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,953,000 after purchasing an additional 163,986 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley grew its stake in Southern by 3.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.07.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $69.80 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $76.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.98.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

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.