Cetera Trust Company N.A Lowers Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

by · The Cerbat Gem

Cetera Trust Company N.A lowered its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Free Report) by 30.8% during the 4th quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 450 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 200 shares during the period. Cetera Trust Company N.A’s holdings in Southern were worth $37,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $25,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. 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 buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Quarry LP bought a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 0.8 %

NYSE:SO opened at $84.03 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $92.07 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.56, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $84.56 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.40. The Southern Company has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating 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 return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.04 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. 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 research report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley decreased 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target 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. Finally, Guggenheim increased their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Read Our Latest Research Report on SO

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Southern Profile

(Free Report)

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.

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