Wright Investors Service Inc. Reduces Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Wright Investors Service Inc. cut its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 46.5% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 5,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 4,914 shares during the period. Wright Investors Service Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $465,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets decreased their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. UBS Group lifted 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. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, 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. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $81.81 on Tuesday. 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 firm has a market cap of $89.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $85.09 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.16. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm 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 business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Company 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.