3,985 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Purchased by Financial Enhancement Group LLC

Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm purchased 3,985 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $326,000.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 8,741.6% during the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $135,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,816 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised 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 valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its stake in Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $67,670,000 after buying an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was 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 $7,592,958.70. This 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 link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "buy" rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $82.34 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $90.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The stock's 50 day moving average price is $84.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.19. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

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.

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