The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Fulton Bank N.A.

Fulton Bank N.A. grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 29,903 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 267 shares during the quarter. Fulton Bank N.A.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,462,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Strathmore Capital Advisors Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $279,000. Bangor Savings Bank increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.9% during the fourth quarter. Bangor Savings Bank now owns 21,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,772,000 after acquiring an additional 196 shares during the last quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 7.4% in the 4th quarter. Advance Capital Management Inc. now owns 2,505 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $206,000 after purchasing an additional 172 shares in the last quarter. Neville Rodie & Shaw Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $218,000. Finally, Nordea Investment Management AB increased its stake in shares of Southern by 3.2% in the fourth quarter. Nordea Investment Management AB now owns 58,881 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $4,842,000 after buying an additional 1,816 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $1.32 on Wednesday, hitting $82.41. The stock had a trading volume of 2,598,416 shares, compared to its average volume of 3,938,874. The company’s 50-day moving average is $85.65 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.05. The stock has a market cap of $90.30 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.17, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.49%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

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.