Insider Selling: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) EVP Sells 1,125 Shares of Stock

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. The trade was a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website.

Martin Bernard Davis also recently made the following trade(s):

• On Thursday, December 5th, Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00.

Southern Trading Up 3.2 %

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $2.82 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $91.54. The company's stock had a trading volume of 6,727,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,285,584. The business's 50 day moving average is $85.07 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.00. The Southern Company has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $100.40 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. As a group, equities research analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

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Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's payout ratio is 71.82%.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Syverson Strege & Co increased its holdings in Southern by 2.8% during the fourth quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 4,264 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $351,000 after buying an additional 117 shares during the period. Abel Hall LLC raised its holdings in Southern by 1.8% in the third quarter. Abel Hall LLC now owns 6,830 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $616,000 after purchasing an additional 120 shares in the last quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.3% during the fourth quarter. Providence Capital Advisors LLC now owns 41,073 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $3,381,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.5% in the 3rd quarter. Birchcreek Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,836 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 121 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the 4th quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,508 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,676,000 after acquiring an additional 122 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $90.54.

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.