Southern (NYSE:SO) Sets New 1-Year High at $79.91

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) hit a new 52-week high during mid-day trading on Tuesday . The company traded as high as $79.91 and last traded at $79.84, with a volume of 332256 shares. The stock had previously closed at $79.19.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the subject of a number of recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Barclays upped their target price on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $75.73.

Southern Price Performance

The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $73.07 and a 200-day moving average price of $70.67. The company has a market cap of $86.14 billion, a PE ratio of 20.33, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.30 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that The Southern Company will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.66%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% in the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.