3,869 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Acquired by First American Trust FSB

First American Trust FSB purchased a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor purchased 3,869 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $319,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in Southern by 0.7% in the fourth 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 period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 4.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $543,288,000 after acquiring an additional 194,114 shares during the period. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $315,290,000. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $91.46.

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Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $1.07 on Friday, reaching $91.10. The stock had a trading volume of 4,483,743 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,495,761. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a market cap of $99.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The business's 50-day moving average price is $87.34 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.26. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued 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). 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 analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued 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 is presently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $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. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last 90 days. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.