Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC Makes New Investment in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Alpha Omega Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 2,932 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $206,000.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 0.4% during the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after buying an additional 352,023 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.0% in the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after purchasing an additional 1,838,857 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $694,953,000 after purchasing an additional 163,986 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $69.80 on Thursday. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $68.84 and its two-hundred day moving average is $68.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $75.80. The company has a market cap of $76.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. Southern’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.