Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC reduced its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 10,112 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 230 shares during the period. Bartlett & CO. Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $832,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Westside Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 9.3% during the fourth quarter. Westside Investment Management Inc. now owns 2,682 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $221,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares during the period. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC increased its stake in Southern by 1.0% during the 4th quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 37,292 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,070,000 after buying an additional 356 shares during the period. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 7.1% during the 4th quarter. MBM Wealth Consultants LLC now owns 3,861 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $317,000 after buying an additional 255 shares in the last quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co boosted its position in Southern by 23.1% in the 4th quarter. Missouri Trust & Investment Co now owns 671 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,000 after buying an additional 126 shares during the period. Finally, XML Financial LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 7.5% during the fourth quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 15,315 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,261,000 after acquiring an additional 1,066 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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 stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Stock Down 0.4 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $82.23 on Friday. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $84.46 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.38. The stock has a market cap of $90.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (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 business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms recently issued reports on SO. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays increased their price objective 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. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective 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. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $90.14.

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.