Gateway Investment Advisers LLC Sells 490 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Gateway Investment Advisers LLC cut its holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 14.5% during the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 2,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 490 shares during the period. Gateway Investment Advisers LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $239,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds have also recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mirador Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.0% during the 4th quarter. Mirador Capital Partners LP now owns 5,684 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $468,000 after acquiring an additional 163 shares during the period. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.7% during the fourth quarter. Hennion & Walsh Asset Management Inc. now owns 54,218 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $4,463,000 after purchasing an additional 904 shares during the period. Financial Enhancement Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $326,000. Winch Advisory Services LLC increased its stake in Southern by 199.5% in the 4th quarter. Winch Advisory Services LLC now owns 647 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $53,000 after buying an additional 431 shares during the period. Finally, Smith Thornton Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 6.2% during the 4th quarter. Smith Thornton Advisors LLC now owns 17,760 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,462,000 after buying an additional 1,041 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

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

Southern Stock Up 0.0 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $83.92 on Monday. 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 Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $65.80 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $91.95 billion, a PE ratio of 19.52, a P/E/G ratio of 2.77 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $84.70 and its 200-day simple moving average is $86.31.

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

About Southern

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.