HF Advisory Group LLC Decreases Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

HF Advisory Group LLC reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 22,175 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 723 shares during the quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,825,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 129 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’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 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 represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective 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. Finally, Guggenheim increased their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $83.92 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The business has a 50-day moving average of $84.70 and a 200-day moving average of $86.25. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share 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.