2,989 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Purchased by Grandview Asset Management LLC

Grandview Asset Management LLC bought a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $246,000.

Several other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the company. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its position in shares of Southern by 9.0% during the 4th quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 7,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $654,000 after purchasing an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $494,000. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 6.4% during the fourth quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,302,000 after acquiring an additional 952 shares during the last quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.5% in the 4th quarter. Northstar Advisory Group LLC now owns 8,206 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $676,000 after acquiring an additional 504 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Abound Wealth Management boosted its position in shares of Southern by 13.9% during the 4th quarter. Abound Wealth Management now owns 7,198 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $593,000 after purchasing an additional 881 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SO. Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim increased their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern 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 transaction, 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $81.81 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $89.64 billion, a PE ratio of 19.03, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $85.09 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.16. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted 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. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 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.