Daymark Wealth Partners LLC Raises Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Daymark Wealth Partners LLC grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.0% during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 37,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 356 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,070,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. ProShare Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 10.2% during the second quarter. ProShare Advisors LLC now owns 158,754 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,315,000 after acquiring an additional 14,648 shares during the period. DRW Securities LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $509,000. Certified Advisory Corp acquired a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $604,000. Public Sector Pension Investment Board increased its holdings in Southern by 50.0% during the 2nd quarter. Public Sector Pension Investment Board now owns 185,436 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,384,000 after acquiring an additional 61,771 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 12.4% in the second quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after purchasing an additional 731 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $92.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $84.56 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $86.40.

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

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim upped their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reduced 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. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

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.