Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO Invests $384,000 in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO purchased a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund purchased 4,662 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $384,000.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the business. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 5.4% during the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 94.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SO. Barclays increased their target price 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 price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. 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 data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Trading Down 3.2 %

NYSE:SO traded down $2.74 during trading hours on Tuesday, reaching $83.76. 2,770,363 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,987,207. 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 firm has a market cap of $91.78 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.49, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.25 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.55.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 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 quarter last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The business's revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Southern Profile

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.