Guardian Investment Management Has $1.01 Million Holdings in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Guardian Investment Management cut its position in shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 3.4% in the 4th quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 14,410 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 500 shares during the quarter. Guardian Investment Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,010,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investors Asset Management of Georgia Inc. GA ADV bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $219,000. Twin Capital Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 1.3% during the fourth quarter. Twin Capital Management Inc. now owns 12,018 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $843,000 after acquiring an additional 152 shares in the last quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora boosted its stake in Southern by 21.4% during the fourth quarter. OLD Second National Bank of Aurora now owns 3,408 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $239,000 after acquiring an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. HF Advisory Group LLC now owns 22,329 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,566,000 after acquiring an additional 303 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Waterfront Wealth Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Waterfront Wealth Inc. now owns 11,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $829,000 after acquiring an additional 254 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Mizuho raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.07.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Thursday, reaching $70.42. 2,948,106 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,614,146. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $68.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.98. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $75.80. The company has a market cap of $77.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.29, a PEG ratio of 4.23 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. Insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

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.