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

Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 0.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 698,422 shares during the quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. owned approximately 9.38% of Southern worth $8,461,710,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Abel Hall LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.8% during the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 4.3% in the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $272,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC grew its stake in Southern by 15.9% during the fourth quarter. Richard W. Paul & Associates LLC now owns 895 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $74,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 2.0% during the 4th quarter. Elevate Wealth Advisory Inc. now owns 6,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $510,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares during the period. Finally, Hobbs Group Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 8.0% in the 3rd quarter. Hobbs Group Advisors LLC now owns 1,678 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $151,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group raised their price target 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 objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.06 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $90.12. The stock had a trading volume of 3,830,474 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,310,437. The firm has a market cap of $98.84 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. 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 business has a 50 day moving average price of $87.20 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.26. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. On average, equities analysts anticipate 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. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.