Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC Has $830,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,085 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 143 shares during the period. Fifth Third Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $830,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 3.8% during the 4th quarter. SeaCrest Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,086 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,407,000 after buying an additional 628 shares during the period. Accurate Wealth Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the fourth quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,437,000 after acquiring an additional 280 shares in the last quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC increased its position in Southern by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Mayfair Advisory Group LLC now owns 21,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,740,000 after acquiring an additional 1,042 shares during the period. Breakwater Capital Group raised its stake in Southern by 7.3% in the 4th quarter. Breakwater Capital Group now owns 7,458 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $614,000 after purchasing an additional 505 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fortis Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 60.2% in the 4th quarter. Fortis Advisors LLC now owns 3,725 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $307,000 after purchasing an additional 1,400 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $82.34 on Thursday. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $84.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.19. The stock has a market cap of $90.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction 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 directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Company 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.