Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Raises Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 39.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 146,632 shares of the utilities provider's stock after buying an additional 41,631 shares during the quarter. Foundations Investment Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $12,071,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 4.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 18,151 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,494,000 after buying an additional 755 shares during the period. Curran Financial Partners LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 12.2% in the fourth quarter. Curran Financial Partners LLC now owns 2,775 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $228,000 after purchasing an additional 302 shares during the period. Parkside Investments LLC grew its stake in Southern by 27.9% during the 4th quarter. Parkside Investments LLC now owns 61,755 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $5,084,000 after purchasing an additional 13,485 shares in the last quarter. Webster Bank N. A. increased its holdings in Southern by 13.8% during the 4th quarter. Webster Bank N. A. now owns 1,462 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $120,000 after purchasing an additional 177 shares during the period. Finally, Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.3% in the 4th quarter. Cornerstone Wealth Group LLC now owns 96,068 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $7,908,000 after buying an additional 3,078 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price 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. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research 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's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock traded up $3.11 during trading hours on Monday, hitting $86.59. The stock had a trading volume of 7,699,404 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,137,875. The stock's 50 day moving average is $84.28 and its 200 day moving average is $86.50. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.87 billion, a PE ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

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, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. Southern's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.