Geneos Wealth Management Inc. Has $1.65 Million Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Geneos Wealth Management Inc. lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 4.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The firm owned 20,091 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 773 shares during the quarter. Geneos Wealth Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,654,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $326,000. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares during the last quarter. Verity & Verity LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after buying an additional 5,434 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 94.4% during the third quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after buying an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of research firms have commented on SO. 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 report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. 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 research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $83.50 on Monday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $84.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.45. The firm has a market cap of $91.48 billion, a PE ratio of 19.42, 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. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

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.