Assenagon Asset Management S.A. Sells 183,049 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO)

Assenagon Asset Management S.A. reduced its position in The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) by 88.3% in the fourth quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 24,326 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 183,049 shares during the quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,003,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after buying an additional 129 shares during the period. Quarry LP purchased a new position in Southern during the third quarter worth about $49,000. Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth about $49,000. Finally, Activest Wealth Management purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at about $54,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim raised their price objective 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. Barclays upped their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $90.14.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $82.51 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $84.56 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.40. The firm has a market cap of $90.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.52. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.42 earnings per share. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts predict 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.