Annex Advisory Services LLC Acquires 977 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Annex Advisory Services LLC lifted its stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 38.7% during the 4th quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 3,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 977 shares during the period. Annex Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $288,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at about $49,000. Finally, Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter worth about $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Insider Activity

In related 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 sale, 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 position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $84.72 on Wednesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $92.82 billion, a PE ratio of 19.70, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $84.62 and a 200 day simple moving average of $86.36. 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 data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share 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 company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.42 EPS. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

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.