Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. Reduces Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc. reduced its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 15.7% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 539 shares during the period. Buttonwood Financial Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP purchased a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $83.50 on Monday. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $91.48 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.42, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. 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 fifty day moving average of $84.28 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Barclays boosted their price objective 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. Scotiabank boosted 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. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

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.