Greenup Street Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 6,995 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $576,000.
Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,772,000 after acquiring an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC raised its position in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 94.4% in the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,033,000 after buying an additional 140,151 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.
Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth
A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $90.14.
Read Our Latest Report on Southern
Southern Stock Down 2.8 %
NYSE:SO traded down $2.41 on Tuesday, reaching $84.09. 2,409,003 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,968,040. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $92.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $84.25 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.55. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.
Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.
Insider Activity at Southern
In related 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
Southern Profile
(
Free Report)
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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