Arkadios Wealth Advisors Has $8.97 Million Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Arkadios Wealth Advisors increased its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.8% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 109,008 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 5,013 shares during the quarter. Arkadios Wealth Advisors’ holdings in Southern were worth $8,974,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank increased 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. UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $83.92 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, 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 stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.19.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates 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 net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.