Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. Increases Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 127,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,759 shares during the quarter. Southern comprises 1.5% of Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 17th largest holding. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $10,487,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at about $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after buying an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC increased its position in Southern by 2.8% during the 4th 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 in the last quarter. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake 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 valued at $26,033,000 after buying an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

SO opened at $83.50 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 company has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.28 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.