LVW Advisors LLC Buys 1,748 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

LVW Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 10.4% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 18,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,748 shares during the quarter. LVW Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,528,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

A number of other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 8,741.6% in the third quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $135,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485,816 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.6% in 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 in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. boosted its holdings in Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,670,000 after acquiring an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.92 on Monday. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $84.70 and a 200 day moving average of $86.31. 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 stock has a market cap of $91.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the company. Guggenheim raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. 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 note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. 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 company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate 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.