Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 9.4% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 146,326 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 15,213 shares during the quarter. Moody Lynn & Lieberson LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $12,046,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted 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 worth $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its position 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 during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in 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 buying an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp increased its holdings in 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 during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

SO traded up $1.24 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $83.50. 6,574,386 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 3,683,373. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.28 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results 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. 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%. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. On average, equities 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.