Nepsis Inc. Decreases Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Nepsis Inc. decreased its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 2.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 48,089 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,091 shares during the quarter. Southern comprises 0.6% of Nepsis Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd biggest holding. Nepsis Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $3,959,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its position in Southern by 34.7% in the 3rd quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth approximately $49,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Barclays raised their target price 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 lowered 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’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 value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.50 on Friday. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $84.36 and its 200 day moving average price is $86.35. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $91.48 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.42, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Company 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.