Dimensional Fund Advisors LP Purchases 297,012 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Dimensional Fund Advisors LP boosted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.3% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 297,012 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP owned about 0.22% of Southern worth $184,694,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the last quarter. 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.71.

Southern Stock Down 0.2 %

Southern stock opened at $88.87 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $97.17 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.96, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 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 twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $90.34. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $86.01 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $78.65.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Transactions at Southern

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

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.