The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) CEO James Y. Kerr II Sells 30,000 Shares of Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Southern Stock Up 0.4 %

SO opened at $89.29 on Wednesday. The Southern Company has a 12 month low of $64.53 and a 12 month high of $91.86. 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 has a market cap of $97.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.07, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $88.06 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.54.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have commented on SO. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their target price on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.27.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Sanibel Captiva Trust Company Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $16,067,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 382.0% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 41,790 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,998,000 after purchasing an additional 33,120 shares in the last quarter. Nwam LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 8.8% during the 1st quarter. Nwam LLC now owns 11,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $890,000 after purchasing an additional 937 shares in the last quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department boosted its stake in Southern by 2.6% during the 4th quarter. State of Tennessee Treasury Department now owns 514,766 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,095,000 after purchasing an additional 12,849 shares in the last quarter. Finally, First Hawaiian Bank boosted its stake in Southern by 2.5% during the 1st quarter. First Hawaiian Bank now owns 9,440 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $677,000 after purchasing an additional 229 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.