Insider Selling: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) CEO Sells 9,126 Shares of Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link.

Southern Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.81 during trading on Thursday, reaching $75.33. The stock had a trading volume of 5,457,212 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,723,395. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market cap of $82.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.48. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $70.06 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.54. The Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $75.92.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. Southern’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.82%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.14%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of research analyst reports. Bank of America increased their price target on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank reduced their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.36.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. increased its position in Southern by 6.0% during the first quarter. Pacific Wealth Strategies Group Inc. now owns 16,954 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,216,000 after purchasing an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 5.0% in the 1st quarter. Summit Financial Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 6,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $482,000 after buying an additional 321 shares during the period. Adapt Wealth Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the first quarter valued at $248,000. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 11.2% during the first quarter. Daiwa Securities Group Inc. now owns 112,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,039,000 after acquiring an additional 11,319 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Quent Capital LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.8% in the 1st quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 3,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $279,000 after purchasing an additional 314 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% 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.