CX Institutional Increases Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CX Institutional increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 16.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 7,475 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,050 shares during the period. CX Institutional’s holdings in Southern were worth $615,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its stake in Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 1.5 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $83.50 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a fifty day moving average of $84.28 and a 200 day moving average of $86.39. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets cut 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. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Insider Activity

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 shares were 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 $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.