Chemung Canal Trust Co. Reduces Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Chemung Canal Trust Co. reduced its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.1% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 12,116 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 255 shares during the quarter. Chemung Canal Trust Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $997,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 0.8% during the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after buying an additional 52,414 shares in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after acquiring an additional 15,300 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

NYSE:SO opened at $83.50 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.36 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS 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.