Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC Grows Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.9% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 49,156 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 924 shares during the period. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,046,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of SO. Parallel Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.2% during the 2nd quarter. Parallel Advisors LLC now owns 9,853 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $764,000 after buying an additional 305 shares in the last quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 11.0% during the second quarter. Prime Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 45,512 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,530,000 after acquiring an additional 4,515 shares during the period. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 14.3% in the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $184,694,000 after acquiring an additional 297,012 shares in the last quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.2% in the second quarter. Mesirow Financial Investment Management Inc. now owns 12,553 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $974,000 after acquiring an additional 143 shares during the period. Finally, Total Clarity Wealth Management Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth about $250,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

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

Southern Trading Up 0.3 %

SO opened at $82.15 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $90.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. 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 Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $84.96 and its two-hundred day moving average is $86.19.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is 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.