Kaydan Wealth Management Inc. Purchases 162 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Kaydan Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 5.1% during the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 3,317 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 162 shares during the quarter. Kaydan Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $273,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other large investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC increased its stake in Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in Southern during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Guggenheim raised their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment 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. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.92 on Monday. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.52, a PEG ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The stock has a fifty day moving average of $84.70 and a 200 day moving average of $86.31. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other 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 sale, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.