Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Position Raised by Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA

Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 13.6% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 25,082 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 3,010 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA's holdings in Southern were worth $2,306,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Proficio Capital Partners LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 56.6% during the 4th quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its position in Southern by 23.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 4.1% during the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $427,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 4.2% during the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares during the period. Finally, M&T Bank Corp boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% in the 4th quarter. M&T Bank Corp now owns 164,768 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,564,000 after purchasing an additional 1,785 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Wednesday, June 18th. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Finally, KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.25 during trading on Tuesday, reaching $91.58. The company had a trading volume of 2,256,164 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,620,626. The company has a market cap of $100.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $76.96 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm's fifty day moving average is $89.73 and its 200-day moving average is $87.64. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. Southern's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.23%. Southern's payout ratio is 70.64%.

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.