Southern (NYSE:SO) Sees Unusually-High Trading Volume – Still a Buy?

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) shares saw strong trading volume on Friday . 1,622,823 shares were traded 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

A number of analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Morgan Stanley lowered their target price on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Barclays boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Jefferies Financial Group assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, September 20th. They set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Monday, September 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $90.20 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.14, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $86.05 and its 200-day moving average price is $85.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The firm had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.42 EPS. The business’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Equities analysts anticipate that The Southern Company will post 4.03 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 18th were given 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 3.50%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $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 Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the business. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new position in Southern in the third quarter valued at about $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.4% during 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 during the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its position in Southern by 94.4% during 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 in the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the 3rd 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 during the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its position in Southern by 219.4% in 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 in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.