Impact Partnership Wealth LLC Acquires 10,494 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Impact Partnership Wealth LLC raised its stake in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 331.0% during the 4th quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 13,664 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 10,494 shares during the quarter. Impact Partnership Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,125,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Evergreen Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 12.4% during the 2nd quarter. Evergreen Capital Management LLC now owns 6,606 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $512,000 after acquiring an additional 731 shares during the last quarter. Employees Retirement System of Texas bought a new position in shares of Southern in the second quarter worth about $8,298,000. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 9.2% during the 2nd quarter. Daymark Wealth Partners LLC now owns 34,542 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,679,000 after purchasing an additional 2,901 shares during the last quarter. MBB Public Markets I LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $6,161,000. Finally, The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the second quarter. The Manufacturers Life Insurance Company now owns 1,475,372 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $114,445,000 after acquiring an additional 15,076 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $82.23 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average of $84.46 and a 200-day moving average of $86.38. The firm has a market cap of $90.10 billion, a PE ratio of 19.12, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52. 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 twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates 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 during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several research reports. Barclays boosted their price objective 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 lifted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target 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. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

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.