Alpha Cubed Investments LLC Decreases Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Alpha Cubed Investments LLC trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 17.8% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,481 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,186 shares during the quarter. Alpha Cubed Investments LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $451,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position 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 period. West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth about $49,000. 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 firm’s 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale 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 insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Guggenheim boosted their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price 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 dropped their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted 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. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $84.62 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $86.36. 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 market capitalization of $92.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 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.

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, beating 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 during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal 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.