Analyzing Southern Company’s Current Chart Indicators

Currently, many top utility stocks (XLU) are trading at their annual highs. Southern Company (SO), one of the top regulated utilities, seems to be in a lull. Southern Company is trading more than 10% below its 52-week high. While broader utilities have gained more than 8%, Southern Company stock has added some losses in 2018. Slower quarterly earnings growth and power plant issues have dented Southern Company’s market performance in 2018.

Southern Company stock is trading at $47.2—almost 4% above its 50-day and 200-day simple moving average levels. The fair premium to both of these levels underlines the strength in the stock. Southern Company could face support around these levels at $45.6 and $45.3.

Southern Company’s 50-day moving average crossing above its 200-day moving average levels can be seen as a “bullish signal” for the stock. Technical indicators term the movement as a “golden cross.”

Southern Company’s RSI (relative strength index) is at 60, which shows that it isn’t in the “overbought” or the “oversold” zone. A stock is considered “oversold” when its RSI drops below 30 and “overbought” when its RSI rises above 70. Extreme RSI values could suggest an impending reversal in the stock’s direction.

The short interest in Southern Company decreased 13% as of November 15. The total shorted shares in Southern Company were 24.9 million on October 31, while its total shorted shares decreased to 21.6 million as of November 15.

Southern Company stock is trading 10.0% lower than its 52-week high of $52.0 in December 2017. The stock has rallied more than 11.0% since its 52-week low of $42.4 in February.