Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. Purchases 1,149 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc. lifted its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.9% during the 3rd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 14,080 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,149 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Investments Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,270,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after acquiring an additional 481,071 shares during the period. Capital International Investors lifted its position in Southern by 45.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Raymond James & Associates grew its stake in Southern by 5.7% during the third quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,718,040 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $245,113,000 after buying an additional 145,810 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,192,000 after buying an additional 51,751 shares during the period. Finally, Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 14.3% during the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,694,000 after acquiring an additional 297,012 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $89.86 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.56 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $82.91. The company has a market capitalization of $98.26 billion, a PE ratio of 21.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.20%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 68.57%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last 90 days. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group boosted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America boosted their target price on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Guggenheim raised their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.07.

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.