James Jeffrey Peoples Sells 14,540 Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $86.79 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The firm has a market capitalization of $95.10 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.86 and a beta of 0.53. The Southern Company has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $83.35 and its 200 day simple moving average is $86.77.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 66.98%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital Square LLC grew its position in Southern by 4.0% during the 4th quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 24,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,070,000 after acquiring an additional 953 shares during the last quarter. Altshuler Shaham Ltd acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $125,000. MSH Capital Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $1,667,000. Marshall Wace LLP increased its stake in shares of Southern by 325.7% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. Finally, NewEdge Advisors LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 5.2% in the 4th quarter. NewEdge Advisors LLC now owns 229,905 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $18,926,000 after buying an additional 11,384 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have issued reports on SO. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley dropped 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 report on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets reduced their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.79.

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.