Southern (NYSE:SO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Here’s What Happened

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 1,622,823 shares traded hands during trading, a decline of 24% from the previous session’s volume of 2,127,409 shares.The stock last traded at $82.27 and had previously closed at $82.07.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Scotiabank lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

The company has a market capitalization of $90.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.27, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a 50-day moving average of $86.24 and a two-hundred day moving average of $85.87. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.42 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.48%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OneAscent Financial Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the third quarter worth about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $26,033,000 after purchasing an additional 140,151 shares during the period. Swiss National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the third quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $292,679,000 after purchasing an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 219.4% during the third quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $809,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.