The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Vanguard Group Inc.

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 698,422 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned about 9.38% of Southern worth $8,461,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Abel Hall LLC increased its position in Southern by 1.8% during the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $616,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC increased its position in Southern by 4.3% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC increased its position in Southern by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $74,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.0% in the fourth quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $510,000 after purchasing an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Arete Wealth Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the third quarter. Arete Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 18,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,637,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784 in the last three months. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE SO opened at $89.21 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $86.69 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.25. The company has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates 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 Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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.