St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Has $751,000 Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC reduced its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.0% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 690 shares during the quarter. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $751,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 94.4% during the 3rd 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 own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $82.23 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.46 and a 200 day moving average of $86.38. 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 Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $90.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. 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 previous year, the business 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, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Company 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.