Insider Selling: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) EVP Sells 12,000 Shares of Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $77.72 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $84.98 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.08, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $80.84. The stock’s 50-day moving average is $77.75 and its two-hundred day moving average is $72.36.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.71%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Scotiabank cut their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $76.14.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after buying an additional 508 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.