The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Position Cut by Radnor Capital Management LLC

Radnor Capital Management LLC trimmed its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.6% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 4,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Radnor Capital Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $346,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in Southern by 14.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,694,000 after purchasing an additional 297,012 shares during the period. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI lifted its position in Southern by 71.8% in the second quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 17,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,396,000 after purchasing an additional 7,522 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 24.6% in the second quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,734,000 after purchasing an additional 4,411 shares during the period. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV lifted its position in Southern by 6.5% in the second quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 251,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $19,507,000 after purchasing an additional 15,362 shares during the period. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co lifted its position in Southern by 40.1% in the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 17,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,352,000 after purchasing an additional 4,990 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE SO opened at $82.34 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $90.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.19.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. One 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.