Woodstock Corp Buys 2,040 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Woodstock Corp lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.1% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 41,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,040 shares during the quarter. Woodstock Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,443,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP increased its holdings in Southern by 14.3% in the 2nd quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,694,000 after purchasing an additional 297,012 shares in the last quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 24.6% during the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 4,411 shares during the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV raised its holdings in Southern by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 251,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,507,000 after buying an additional 15,362 shares during the last quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co raised its holdings in Southern by 40.1% in the 2nd quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 17,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after buying an additional 4,990 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Argent Trust Co boosted its position in Southern by 14.0% during the 2nd quarter. Argent Trust Co now owns 46,655 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,619,000 after buying an additional 5,733 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related 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 value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank raised their price target 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. Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased 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. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.86 on Friday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $84.86 and a 200-day moving average of $86.16. The company has a market cap of $91.88 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 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 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 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 net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.