CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Acquires 1,208 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA increased its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 9,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 1,208 shares during the quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Southern were worth $754,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 24.3% during the 2nd quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 223,145 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $17,476,000 after acquiring an additional 43,681 shares during the period. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 3.2% during the second quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,853 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $764,000 after purchasing an additional 305 shares during the last quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 79.6% in the 2nd quarter. Thoroughbred Financial Services LLC now owns 10,301 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $799,000 after purchasing an additional 4,565 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2.1% in the 2nd quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,542,113 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $197,192,000 after purchasing an additional 51,751 shares during the last quarter. Finally, WINTON GROUP Ltd acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter worth $1,491,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $81.81 on Tuesday. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $85.09 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.16. The company has a market capitalization of $89.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52.

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. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective 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 boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

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.