CNB Bank Has $55,000 Stake in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

CNB Bank increased its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 23.9% in the fourth quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 778 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 150 shares during the period. CNB Bank’s holdings in Southern were worth $55,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in Southern by 3.1% in the 3rd quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $316,000 after buying an additional 146 shares in the last quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.8% during the 4th quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 19,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,399,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares in the last quarter. Insight Inv LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 4th quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 10,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $738,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 4th quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 20,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,454,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.6% during the 4th quarter. Willis Johnson & Associates Inc. now owns 4,365 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $306,000 after purchasing an additional 151 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the business’s 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 directly owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 over the last ninety days. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $74.07.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $1.58 during trading on Friday, hitting $72.15. 6,549,289 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,270,214. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $69.02 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.05. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The company has a market cap of $78.98 billion, a PE ratio of 19.88, a PEG ratio of 4.41 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that The Southern Company will post 4 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.