6,500 Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Purchased by Cvfg LLC

Cvfg LLC acquired a new stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor acquired 6,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $535,000.

Other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares 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 worth $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position 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 buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the third quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in Southern in the third quarter valued at $54,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lifted 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. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. 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’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Up 1.8 %

NYSE:SO opened at $83.86 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $91.88 billion, a PE ratio of 19.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.86 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.16.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate 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 during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.