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

Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.4% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 22,072 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,775 shares during the period. Farmers & Merchants Trust Co of Chambersburg PA’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,817,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after buying an additional 52,414 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

Southern Stock Down 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $86.79 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $95.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. 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 company has a 50-day moving average price of $83.35 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.77.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.