The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.

Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd. raised its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 28,390 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,199 shares during the period. Meiji Yasuda Asset Management Co Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,202,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Gilbert & Cook Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 4.3% during the 4th quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 11,202 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $785,000 after acquiring an additional 462 shares in the last quarter. Aveo Capital Partners LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $233,000. Gryphon Financial Partners LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $219,000. SCP Investment LP purchased a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $548,000. Finally, Brown Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 15.9% in the fourth quarter. Brown Advisory Inc. now owns 36,499 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,559,000 after purchasing an additional 5,018 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities 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 company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $84.71.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.01 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $90.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $97.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.00, a PEG ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $85.83 and a 200-day moving average of $78.58.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

About Southern

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.