Atticus Wealth Management LLC Buys 250 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Atticus Wealth Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 50.0% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 750 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 250 shares during the quarter. Atticus Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $62,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of 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 purchasing an additional 1,075,768 shares during the last quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its position in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.8% during the third quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,405,596 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $577,657,000 after acquiring an additional 52,414 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research analysts have commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their target price on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday. Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 1.5 %

SO stock opened at $83.50 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 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 twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The stock’s 50 day moving average is $84.28 and its 200-day moving average is $86.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

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 sale, the executive vice president now 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 transaction 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 corporate insiders.

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.