Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Sells 38,596 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 63.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 38,596 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,851,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other 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 transaction, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $86.59 on Tuesday. 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 twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $94.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day moving average is $84.28 and its 200 day moving average is $86.50.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

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.