FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH Has $1.19 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH trimmed its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.7% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 14,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 880 shares during the quarter. FARMERS & MERCHANTS TRUST Co OF LONG BEACH’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,192,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its position 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 valued at $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% during 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 acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings 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 valued at $577,657,000 after acquiring an additional 52,414 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd 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 grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.0 %

NYSE:SO opened at $83.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.19. The company has a market cap of $91.95 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts recently commented on the company. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim upped their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 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.