Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC Cuts Stock Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC decreased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 63.2% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 22,480 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 38,596 shares during the period. Kingswood Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,851,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Drive Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 11.1% during the 4th quarter. Drive Wealth Management LLC now owns 4,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $367,000 after purchasing an additional 444 shares during the last quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC increased its position in Southern by 2.4% during the fourth quarter. Novare Capital Management LLC now owns 6,681 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $550,000 after acquiring an additional 156 shares during the last quarter. MKT Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.5% in the 4th quarter. MKT Advisors LLC now owns 4,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $401,000 after acquiring an additional 376 shares during the last quarter. Clarendon Private LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $450,000. Finally, Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Jamison Private Wealth Management Inc. now owns 127,388 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,487,000 after purchasing an additional 1,759 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 3.7 %

SO opened at $86.59 on Tuesday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $65.80 and a 12 month high of $94.45. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $84.28 and a 200-day moving average price of $86.50. The firm has a market cap of $94.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.