Greenleaf Trust Grows Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Greenleaf Trust grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 9.7% in the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 31,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,747 shares during the quarter. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,182,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. American Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.7% during the fourth quarter. American Financial Advisors LLC now owns 5,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $419,000 after purchasing an additional 375 shares in the last quarter. Colton Groome Financial Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $275,000. Western Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 7.4% during the 4th quarter. Western Wealth Management LLC now owns 19,567 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,372,000 after purchasing an additional 1,352 shares during the last quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 0.6% during the fourth quarter. Calamos Advisors LLC now owns 218,349 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,311,000 after purchasing an additional 1,322 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Xponance Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 6.7% in the fourth quarter. Xponance Inc. now owns 138,395 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,704,000 after purchasing an additional 8,662 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.07.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $1.58 on Friday, reaching $72.15. 6,549,252 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,270,214. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $75.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The firm has a market cap of $78.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a P/E/G ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.49. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $69.02 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.05.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.