Vanguard Group Inc. Acquires 698,422 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 0.09% of Southern worth $8,461,710,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts recently commented on the stock. UBS Group upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Thursday. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank upped 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. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Trading Down 0.8 %

Southern stock opened at $89.21 on Friday. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $86.69 and a 200-day moving average of $87.25. The Southern Company has a one year low of $67.53 and a one year high of $94.45. 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 company has a market cap of $97.84 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced 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 was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were 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. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of 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 ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 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.