Southern (NYSE:SO) Reaches New 1-Year High - Here's What Happened

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high on Wednesday . The stock traded as high as $93.73 and last traded at $93.59, with a volume of 172716 shares. The stock had previously closed at $93.08.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. Barclays raised their target price 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an "underweight" rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an "outperform" rating to a "peer perform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $89.07.

Southern Stock Up 1.1 %

The stock has a market capitalization of $102.95 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a P/E/G ratio of 3.34 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company's 50-day moving average price is $89.18 and its 200 day moving average price is $82.20.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business's revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.06%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 68.57%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC raised its position in 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 worth $135,524,000 after purchasing an additional 1,485,816 shares during the period. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its stake in Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $67,670,000 after purchasing an additional 841,435 shares during the last quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $44,304,000 after buying an additional 563,785 shares during the period. Finally, Capital Research Global Investors grew its stake in shares of Southern by 35.0% during the first quarter. Capital Research Global Investors now owns 1,929,980 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $138,457,000 after buying an additional 500,000 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently 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.