Royal Fund Management LLC Sells 3,988 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Royal Fund Management LLC lowered its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 55.2% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The fund owned 3,232 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 3,988 shares during the quarter. Royal Fund Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $266,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares during 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 valued at $135,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485,816 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp increased its position in Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Sanctuary Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $27,439,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim upped their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 completion of the sale, the executive vice president now 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. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:SO opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $92.82 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.62 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. On average, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share 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.