The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Court Place Advisors LLC

Court Place Advisors LLC cut its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 12.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 9,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,279 shares during the period. Court Place Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $741,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $86.59 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.28 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.50. The stock has a market cap of $94.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of several research reports. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target 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. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank upped 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

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.