The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Acquired by Apella Capital LLC

Apella Capital LLC boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 6,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 200 shares during the period. Apella Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $501,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 14.3% during the second quarter. Dimensional Fund Advisors LP now owns 2,380,841 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $184,694,000 after purchasing an additional 297,012 shares in the last quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI increased its stake in Southern by 71.8% during the 2nd quarter. Citizens Financial Group Inc. RI now owns 17,998 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,396,000 after buying an additional 7,522 shares during the period. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 24.6% in the 2nd quarter. Axxcess Wealth Management LLC now owns 22,353 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,734,000 after buying an additional 4,411 shares in the last quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV boosted its position in Southern by 6.5% in the 2nd quarter. Mercer Global Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 251,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,507,000 after buying an additional 15,362 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co grew its stake in shares of Southern by 40.1% during the second quarter. Meiji Yasuda Life Insurance Co now owns 17,429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,352,000 after acquiring an additional 4,990 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Up 0.4 %

NYSE:SO opened at $82.34 on Thursday. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.22 billion, a PE ratio of 19.15, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. 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 50 day moving average of $84.96 and a 200-day moving average of $86.19.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping 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 firm 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. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research analysts recently commented on the company. Scotiabank boosted their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on 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 lifted 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. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price 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.