Southern Target of Unusually Large Options Trading (NYSE:SO)

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) saw unusually large options trading activity on Wednesday. Stock investors purchased 6,828 call options on the stock. This is an increase of approximately 48% compared to the average daily volume of 4,598 call options.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % 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. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 168.1% in the third quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after buying an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its stake in Southern by 34.7% during the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Quarry LP bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at approximately $49,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, September 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $89.47.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.41 on Wednesday, reaching $89.74. 3,483,129 shares of the company’s stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,439,474. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $98.33 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.77, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a fifty day moving average of $89.70 and a 200-day moving average of $84.94. Southern has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results 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 firm had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.42 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.03 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

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.