The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Wright Investors Service Inc.

Wright Investors Service Inc. lowered its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 16.5% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 11,139 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,199 shares during the quarter. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $781,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its position in Southern by 21.4% during the 4th quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 3,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $239,000 after purchasing an additional 600 shares during the period. HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its position in Southern by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares during the period. Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 2.2% during the 4th quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 11,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $829,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares during the period. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 9.6% during the 4th quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 100,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,064,000 after acquiring an additional 8,842 shares during the period. Finally, Telos Capital Management Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 4.1% during the 4th quarter. Telos Capital Management Inc. now owns 74,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,225,000 after acquiring an additional 2,968 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.1 %

NYSE:SO opened at $70.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $77.25 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.44, a PEG ratio of 4.36 and a beta of 0.49. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $75.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $68.92 and its 200 day moving average price is $68.99.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 in the last three months. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

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.