3,516 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Purchased by Symmetry Partners LLC

Symmetry Partners LLC bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 3,516 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $289,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $326,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares during the period. Verity & Verity LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $16,626,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in shares of Southern by 94.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the period. Finally, Farmers Trust Co. boosted its holdings in Southern by 31.6% in the 4th quarter. Farmers Trust Co. now owns 48,383 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,983,000 after buying an additional 11,605 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

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Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded down $0.51 during mid-day trading on Monday, hitting $88.85. 3,640,983 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,310,333. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.83 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.23. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $97.46 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's payout ratio is 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the sale, 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm'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 transaction 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 approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern 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.