The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Accurate Wealth Management LLC

Accurate Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.6% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 17,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 280 shares during the quarter. Accurate Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,437,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently modified their holdings of the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares during the period. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its position in shares of 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 valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.8% in the 3rd quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $577,657,000 after purchasing an additional 52,414 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% in the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several research reports. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim increased their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 0.3 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $82.15 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market cap of $90.01 billion, a PE ratio of 19.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.96 and a 200-day moving average of $86.19.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 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 dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is 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.