Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Raises Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC boosted its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.6% during the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 381,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 2,287 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $31,393,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% in 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 during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. Barclays lifted their target price 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. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $82.23 on Friday. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The firm has a 50 day moving average price of $84.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.38. The company has a market cap of $90.10 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.12, a PEG ratio of 2.88 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released 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. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Southern

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.