The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Shares Bought by Twin Capital Management Inc.

Twin Capital Management Inc. raised its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.3% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 12,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 152 shares during the quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $843,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 99,572,665 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,444,343,000 after buying an additional 352,023 shares during the last quarter. FMR LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 5.0% during the 3rd quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,518,045,000 after buying an additional 1,838,857 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $694,953,000 after buying an additional 163,986 shares during the last quarter. Morgan Stanley raised its stake in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $634,988,000 after buying an additional 349,122 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $72.15 on Friday. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The company has a market capitalization of $78.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.88, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $69.02 and a 200-day simple moving average of $69.05.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 over the last three months. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms recently commented on SO. Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $74.07.

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.