The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) EVP Sells $587,830.10 in Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.32 on Tuesday. The company has a market capitalization of $97.67 billion, a PE ratio of 23.08, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company’s fifty day moving average is $84.24 and its 200-day moving average is $77.56. The Southern Company has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $90.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $83.71.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $372,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $27,439,000. Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at approximately $325,000. Strategic Investment Solutions Inc. IL bought a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $60,000. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth $197,000. 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.