Drive Wealth Management LLC Has $367,000 Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Drive Wealth Management LLC grew its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 11.1% in the 4th quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 444 shares during the quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $367,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Driehaus Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $468,000. Ascent Group LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 15.3% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 3,386 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $263,000 after purchasing an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.5% during the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 356,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,664,000 after purchasing an additional 27,949 shares during the last quarter. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $2,717,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 6.3% during the 2nd quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 213,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $16,554,000 after purchasing an additional 12,556 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Trading Up 3.7 %

NYSE:SO opened at $86.59 on Tuesday. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $84.28 and its 200-day moving average is $86.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $94.87 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.14, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating 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 company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

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.