Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. Sells 2,277 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc. reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 6.6% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 32,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,277 shares during the quarter. Southern makes up about 1.5% of Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 19th largest position. Murphy Middleton Hinkle & Parker Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,638,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds have also bought and sold shares of the company. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after buying an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 8,741.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485,816 shares in the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after acquiring an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 4.6% during the third quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after acquiring an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its holdings in Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,670,000 after purchasing an additional 841,435 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. BMO Capital Markets decreased 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. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related 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 value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $83.92 on Friday. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $84.70 and a 200 day moving average of $86.25. 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 firm has a market cap of $91.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. 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 firm posted $1.42 EPS. Southern’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

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.