Christopher Cummiskey Sells 6,669 Shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) Stock

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,973,740. This represents a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $93.49 on Friday. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $83.09 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.94 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.79, a PEG ratio of 2.91 and a beta of 0.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $92.77 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.73.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.41 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 14.69%.Southern’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.50 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities research analysts recently commented on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, December 6th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, January 21st. Barclays dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $88.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, January 15th. Finally, Mizuho set a $104.00 price objective on Southern and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Six investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $98.08.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Capital World Investors grew its stake in Southern by 320.3% during the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,179,425,000 after buying an additional 25,567,431 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern in the second quarter valued at $1,179,715,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its stake in Southern by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after buying an additional 5,436,212 shares during the last quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 9,099.6% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $406,011,000 after acquiring an additional 4,373,271 shares during the period. Finally, Soroban Capital Partners LP grew its position in shares of Southern by 83.8% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,912 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Company Profile

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.