Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI Reduces Position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 1.0% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 20,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 213 shares during the quarter. Parsons Capital Management Inc. RI’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,683,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Driehaus Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth $468,000. Ascent Group LLC raised its stake 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 buying an additional 449 shares during the last quarter. Creative Planning lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.5% in the 2nd quarter. Creative Planning now owns 356,635 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,664,000 after buying an additional 27,949 shares during the period. Magnolia Capital Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter worth about $2,717,000. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 6.3% during the second quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 213,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,554,000 after acquiring an additional 12,556 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 3.7 %

Shares of SO opened at $86.59 on Tuesday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $84.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $86.50. The Southern Company has a one year low of $65.80 and a one year high of $94.45. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $94.87 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.14, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results 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 analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have commented on the company. Barclays upped their price objective on 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 dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their target price 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. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the company’s 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 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.