The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Sold by Goelzer Investment Management Inc.

Goelzer Investment Management Inc. lowered its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.8% during the fourth quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 60,552 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,746 shares during the quarter. Goelzer Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,985,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.8% in the third quarter. Stanley Laman Group Ltd. now owns 3,246 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $293,000 after acquiring an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Abel Hall LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.8% in the 3rd quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.8% during the 3rd quarter. DT Investment Partners LLC now owns 2,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 4.5% during the third quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Truvestments Capital LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 4.3% in the third quarter. Truvestments Capital LLC now owns 3,011 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $272,000 after buying an additional 123 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insiders Place Their Bets

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley cut 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. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, Scotiabank raised 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

SO stock opened at $83.50 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $91.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The firm’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.36 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.35. 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 quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share 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 analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

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.