CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC Buys 225 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 11,940 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 225 shares during the period. CFS Investment Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $983,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 5.4% in the third quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after buying an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.8% in the fourth quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,626,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. grew its position in Southern by 94.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after buying an additional 140,151 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

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

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.50 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. 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’s 50-day moving average price is $84.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.39. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current 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.