Insider Selling: Southern (NYSE:SO) EVP Sells $643,891.95 in Stock

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total value of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president owned 30,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,973,740. This trade represents a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $93.49 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $102.94 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.79, a P/E/G ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.65. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $92.77 and its 200 day moving average is $91.73. Southern Company has a one year low of $83.09 and a one year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.56 by ($0.01). Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.The company had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.41 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $0.50 EPS. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 10.1% compared to the same quarter last year. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at about $25,000. Ankerstar Wealth LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $25,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. J.Safra Asset Management Corp purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $27,000. Finally, Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern during the third quarter valued at approximately $29,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research firms have weighed in on SO. Barclays dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, January 15th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. TD Cowen upped their target price on shares of Southern from $108.00 to $112.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, March 6th. Truist Financial set a $103.00 price target on Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Evercore raised Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 price target on the stock in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Six research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.