Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH Buys New Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) in the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 626,879 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $51,605,000.

Other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. First United Bank & Trust grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the fourth quarter. First United Bank & Trust now owns 21,241 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,749,000 after purchasing an additional 831 shares in the last quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Crossmark Global Holdings Inc. now owns 256,249 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $21,095,000 after buying an additional 3,603 shares during the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 9.7% during the 4th quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 23,688 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,950,000 after acquiring an additional 2,092 shares in the last quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.7% in the 4th quarter. Koshinski Asset Management Inc. now owns 17,571 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,446,000 after acquiring an additional 295 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Sky Investment Group LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 0.9% during the 4th quarter. Sky Investment Group LLC now owns 81,749 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,730,000 after acquiring an additional 757 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 1.0 %

NYSE:SO opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.36. The firm has a market cap of $92.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.70, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52.

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate 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.