The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Position Reduced by Burney Co.

Burney Co. lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.7% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 12,785 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 225 shares during the period. Burney Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,052,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC increased 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 valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management bought a new stake in Southern during the third quarter valued at $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms have recently commented on SO. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim upped their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Trading Up 1.8 %

Southern stock opened at $83.86 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.86 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.16.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 last year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 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.