Southern Sees Unusually Large Options Volume (NYSE:SO)

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) saw some unusual options trading on Thursday. Stock investors bought 7,514 put options on the company. This is an increase of 71% compared to the typical volume of 4,392 put options.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Cloud Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 275.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. Advantage Trust Co boosted its position in Southern by 1,428.6% during the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after buying an additional 300 shares during the period. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $29,000. Finally, Triumph Capital Management bought a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter valued at about $29,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $0.10 on Thursday, hitting $87.88. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 1,002,436 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,219,563. The company has a market capitalization of $96.77 billion, a PE ratio of 21.73, a PEG ratio of 2.87 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.45 and a 200 day simple moving average of $92.51. Southern has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a net margin of 15.42% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The business had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 73.27%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Royal Bank Of Canada upgraded shares of Southern to a “hold” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 28th. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Thursday, November 6th. UBS Group raised their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, KeyCorp boosted their price objective on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have given a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

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.