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 stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO traded up $0.40 during mid-day trading on Wednesday, reaching $86.85. 4,722,984 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 5,068,332. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $83.33 and a 200-day simple moving average of $86.77. The stock 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 quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The Southern Company has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Fiduciary Alliance LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 250.9% in the third quarter. Fiduciary Alliance LLC now owns 10,477 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $945,000 after purchasing an additional 7,491 shares during the period. Creative Planning boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.4% in the third quarter. Creative Planning now owns 368,646 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $33,245,000 after buying an additional 12,011 shares during the period. Prospect Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter worth about $213,000. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 3.2% in the third quarter. Foster Victor Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 73,913 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,573,000 after acquiring an additional 2,279 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Kapitalo Investimentos Ltda acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the third quarter worth about $321,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several research reports. Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lowered their price target on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 1st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $89.79.

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.