Smith Salley Wealth Management Has $742,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Smith Salley Wealth Management reduced its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 9,012 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Smith Salley Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $742,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 34.7% during the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Quarry LP acquired a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently commented on SO. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased 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. Guggenheim boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 0.0 %

Southern stock opened at $83.92 on Monday. 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 current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50-day moving average is $84.70 and its 200-day moving average is $86.31.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate 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 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 completion of 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 position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.