Latitude Advisors LLC Takes Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Latitude Advisors LLC bought a new position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the fourth quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm bought 2,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $204,000.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% in the third quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after buying an additional 352,023 shares in the last quarter. FMR LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,518,045,000 after buying an additional 1,838,857 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the third quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $694,953,000 after buying an additional 163,986 shares in the last quarter. Morgan Stanley lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% in the third quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,988,000 after buying an additional 349,122 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% in the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 in the last ninety days. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $69.80 on Thursday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $75.80. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $68.84 and a 200-day moving average price of $68.98. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market cap of $76.41 billion, a PE ratio of 19.23, a P/E/G ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company cut their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays boosted their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.07.

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.