Montecito Bank & Trust Purchases 505 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Montecito Bank & Trust boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.7% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 9,380 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 505 shares during the quarter. Montecito Bank & Trust’s holdings in Southern were worth $772,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its position in Southern by 9.2% during the second quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 34,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,679,000 after buying an additional 2,901 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at about $6,161,000. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the 2nd quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,475,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $114,445,000 after acquiring an additional 15,076 shares in the last quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $1,031,000. Finally, Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 7.8% during the second quarter. Beaird Harris Wealth Management LLC now owns 3,449 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $268,000 after purchasing an additional 251 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $83.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $91.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 2.81 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 twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business 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 quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective 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. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

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.