Winch Advisory Services LLC Grows Stock Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Winch Advisory Services LLC grew its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 199.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 431 shares during the quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $53,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

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

Southern Stock Up 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $82.34 on Thursday. 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 Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.96 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.19. The firm has a market cap of $90.22 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.15, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective on the stock. Guggenheim raised 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, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value 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. This trade represents 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 this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.