St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC Has $751,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC cut its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 7.0% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 690 shares during the period. St. Johns Investment Management Company LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $751,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its position in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC boosted 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 worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Quarry LP bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently commented on SO. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays lifted 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. BMO Capital Markets cut 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern 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 the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $82.23 on Friday. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.46 and a 200-day moving average of $86.38. The company has a market cap of $90.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 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 Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results 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. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 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.