Dagco Inc. Invests $92,000 in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO)

Dagco Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund acquired 1,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $92,000.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $510,229,000. Marshall Wace LLP raised its stake in shares of Southern by 325.7% in the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,936,965 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Finally, UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 23.2% during the 4th quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $428,794,000 after purchasing an additional 979,756 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.7%

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $93.88 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $103.27 billion, a PE ratio of 24.13, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.44. The firm’s 50-day moving average is $92.13 and its 200-day moving average is $90.01.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Mizuho increased their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Evercore ISI increased their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.29.

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.