Insider Selling: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) CEO Sells 14,540 Shares of Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, hitting $86.85. The company had a trading volume of 4,722,984 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,068,332. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $83.33 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.77. The Southern Company has a 52-week low of $65.80 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The company has a market capitalization of $95.16 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.20, a P/E/G ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 66.98%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.79.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 17,272.6% in the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $315,290,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 8,741.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after buying an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Company Profile

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.