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 firm’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink.

Southern Trading Up 1.1 %

Southern stock traded up $0.81 during mid-day trading on Thursday, hitting $75.33. 5,457,212 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,723,395. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $70.06 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.54. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $82.46 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.67, a PEG ratio of 4.60 and a beta of 0.48. 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 released 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. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The business’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.26 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

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

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several research firms recently weighed in on SO. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 23rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.36.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Rockline Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,945,000. Zullo Investment Group Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.8% during the 4th quarter. Zullo Investment Group Inc. now owns 3,437 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $241,000 after purchasing an additional 157 shares during the last quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 5.8% during the 4th quarter. Global Retirement Partners LLC now owns 14,856 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,045,000 after purchasing an additional 819 shares in the last quarter. Apella Capital LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $301,000. Finally, Alpine Woods Capital Investors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $3,795,000. Institutional investors 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.