The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Gleason Group Inc.

Gleason Group Inc. boosted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,844 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 139 shares during the period. Southern accounts for 0.2% of Gleason Group Inc.’s portfolio, making the stock its 27th biggest holding. Gleason Group Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,387,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Cullen Investment Group LTD. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 26.0% in the fourth quarter. Cullen Investment Group LTD. now owns 21,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,767,000 after purchasing an additional 4,427 shares in the last quarter. Grandview Asset Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $246,000. AdvisorNet Financial Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 9.0% during the fourth quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 7,949 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $654,000 after buying an additional 655 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $494,000. Finally, Miracle Mile Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.4% during the 4th quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,818 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,302,000 after purchasing an additional 952 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price target 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. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Guggenheim raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $81.81 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $89.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.03, a P/E/G ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The company has a 50 day moving average of $85.09 and a 200 day moving average of $86.16. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.