The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by AMI Asset Management Corp

AMI Asset Management Corp decreased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 11,465 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 314 shares during the quarter. AMI Asset Management Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $944,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares in the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 8,741.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485,816 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 4.6% during the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after purchasing an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $83.92 on Tuesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. 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 firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $84.70 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.31.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results 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 company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value 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. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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 increased their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

About Southern

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.