Meeder Advisory Services Inc. Grows Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Meeder Advisory Services Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.5% in the 3rd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 20,236 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 300 shares during the quarter. Meeder Advisory Services Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Vista Capital Partners Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $678,000 after buying an additional 118 shares during the period. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 3.8% in the third quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC raised its position in Southern by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. Finally, Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $702,000 after acquiring an additional 124 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities research analysts have recently commented on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. UBS Group raised their target price 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 increased their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.27.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $88.05 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $96.47 billion, a PE ratio of 20.48, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 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 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.82 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.27%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.