McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. Purchases 523 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.6% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 8,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 523 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms recently weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley dropped 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. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. 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 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.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $82.23 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $90.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. 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 business has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.38. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

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, 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.