Sovereign Financial Group Inc. Sells 540 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Sovereign Financial Group Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.4% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 39,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 540 shares during the quarter. Southern accounts for about 0.7% of Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Sovereign Financial Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,241,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. 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 valued at $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after purchasing an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $54,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction 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. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. Guggenheim lifted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Finally, UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $82.15 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $84.96 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.19. The firm has a market capitalization of $90.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.10, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal 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.