Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Purchases New Shares in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH acquired a new stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm acquired 626,879 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,605,000. Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH owned approximately 0.06% of Southern as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. First United Bank & Trust increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 21,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 256,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,095,000 after purchasing an additional 3,603 shares during the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 9.7% during the fourth quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 23,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,950,000 after buying an additional 2,092 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.7% in the fourth quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after buying an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the fourth quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 81,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,730,000 after buying an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have commented on SO. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective 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. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target 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 that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. 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 company has a 50 day moving average price of $84.62 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.36. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52.

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

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.