CHICAGO TRUST Co NA Has $754,000 Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CHICAGO TRUST Co NA lifted its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 15.2% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,159 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,208 shares during the quarter. CHICAGO TRUST Co NA’s holdings in Southern were worth $754,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new position in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $54,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated 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 $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 available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Trading Up 0.6 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $81.81 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $85.09 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $86.16. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $89.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target for the company. Mizuho cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Finally, UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus 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.