Blue Trust Inc. Has $5.12 Million Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Blue Trust Inc. boosted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 11.6% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 56,716 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,904 shares during the quarter. Blue Trust Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $5,115,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. increased its holdings in Southern by 3.8% during the 3rd quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 5.8% in the third quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 4.5% in the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after purchasing an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 4.3% during the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after acquiring an additional 123 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of equities research analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays raised their price objective on 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 lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $83.50 on Monday. The company has a market cap of $91.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 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. 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 company has a 50 day moving average of $84.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Southern

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.