The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Sachetta LLC

Sachetta LLC cut its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 19.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 625 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 148 shares during the quarter. Sachetta LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $51,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in Southern by 17,272.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 8,741.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,524,000 after buying an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $51,605,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’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 transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Trading Up 1.5 %

NYSE SO opened at $83.50 on Friday. 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 one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $84.36 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.35. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during 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%. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

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.