The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stake Raised by MBM Wealth Consultants LLC

MBM Wealth Consultants LLC raised its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.1% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 255 shares during the quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $317,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 168.1% during the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC increased its position in Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently commented on SO. Guggenheim increased their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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 report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted 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, Barclays lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Trading Up 1.0 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $84.62 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm 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 for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. On average, analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s 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 approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available 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.