The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) EVP Sells $211,796.20 in Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $86.46 on Friday. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $94.54 billion, a PE ratio of 22.34, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.51. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $80.46 and a 200 day simple moving average of $74.49. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $89.68.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.95%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.33%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in Southern by 3.0% in the 4th quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 23,904 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,676,000 after buying an additional 704 shares during the last quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale raised its holdings in Southern by 12.2% during the fourth quarter. DekaBank Deutsche Girozentrale now owns 157,721 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $11,033,000 after acquiring an additional 17,120 shares in the last quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 8.1% during the fourth quarter. Nisa Investment Advisors LLC now owns 148,996 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,448,000 after purchasing an additional 11,196 shares during the last quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC grew its stake in Southern by 1.2% in the fourth quarter. Bristlecone Advisors LLC now owns 17,584 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,233,000 after purchasing an additional 202 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Equitable Trust Co. increased its position in shares of Southern by 20.6% during the 4th quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 28,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,009,000 after purchasing an additional 4,884 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays raised their target price on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 9th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating and eight have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $80.33.

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.