The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Purchased by ProShare Advisors LLC

ProShare Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 158,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,648 shares during the period. ProShare Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $12,315,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.5% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after purchasing an additional 481,071 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors raised its stake 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 acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in Southern by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,457,000 after acquiring an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. Raymond James & Associates boosted its stake in Southern by 21.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,528,000 after acquiring an additional 452,075 shares during the period. Finally, Envestnet Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the second quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,192,000 after purchasing an additional 51,751 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the business’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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 16,771 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $90.52 on Tuesday. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.41 and a 200-day moving average of $79.10. The firm has a market cap of $98.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. 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 Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $90.59.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.18%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

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.