Foundations Investment Advisors LLC Boosts Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Foundations Investment Advisors LLC grew its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 39.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 146,632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 41,631 shares during the period. 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 institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its stake 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 during the period. Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake 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 during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake 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 during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced 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 note on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on shares of 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 shares of 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 research note on Thursday. Finally, Barclays lifted 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Trading Down 0.5 %

NYSE SO opened at $83.07 on Monday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.32, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.50.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating 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 business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS 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.