What does SCANA stock plunge mean for employees, retirees, investors?
Whatever you decide -- and there are some 143 million SCANA shares outstanding -- these are turbulent times for one of
And with a federal grand jury investigation, a state criminal investigation, multiple ratepayer and shareholder lawsuits, advice for investors is all over the place.
"In whirlwind of activity, Scana remains a buying opportunity," read a headline on a Morningstar analyst report that appeared late last week, a day before SCANA in heavy trading dipped to its lowest trading price of the year -- in the
On Monday, SCANA stock continued trading in heavy volume -- some 3.3 million shares were bought and sold, compared with its average of about 1.5 million shares daily -- and closed at
"We are reaffirming out
Meanwhile, the
And national brokerage firm Schwab is rating SCANA stock as a "D" -- meaning an investor should consider "whether it is appropriate to continue to hold that stock in his or her portfolio."
Many advisers are reluctant to give broad-brush guidance on whether to buy or sell.
"I don't have any opinions as to where the stock is going to go. The operative word is uncertainty," said
One unusual element of major uncertainty surrounding SCANA stock is the recent opinion by the office of S.C. Attorney General
That law, the Base Load Review Act, allowed SCANA to tack on an extra monthly charge to its 700,000 customers to pay for building the the nuclear reactors, whose price tag rose to
"If you pass legislation to encourage investment, and the investment doesn't work out, you start to question the constitutionality of the law -- and it's 10 years later," Patterson said. "You have to be kidding me!"
Around the
"The observation at this point for shareholders is that of great uncertainty," said
News stories have focused on SCANA the corporation, but his company has been fielding "a countless number of calls for weeks" from numerous employees and retirees worried about what to do and asking for guidance, Bartlett said.
"An analogy for them is that many investors feel they are driving down a highway which has become extremely foggy, and they can't see into the fog or through it. But they have always counted on transparency and clarity and strong financials."
Seeing SCANA's stock in such uncertain times is troubling to many because people counted on its consistent stock and dividend growth, Bartlett said.
"SCANA has been a cornerstone to our state and nationally -- a fantastic company for decades," he said.
Bartlett said many SCANA stockholders are current and past employees, some with "thousands and thousands of shares," he said. Under the company stock purchase plan, employees could use the dividends to regularly purchase more stock, he said.
Many employees also have, or had, a lot of stock in their 401K plans, Bartlett said.
Some SCANA employees with concentrations of company stock in their 401K plan have been selling the stock and putting it in other 401K funds or rolling assets from their 401K plan and rolling it over to an IRA to avoid taxation, he said. Some investors have held onto their SCANA stock for so long that they still have paper stock certificates, he said. In both cases, investors should talk with a financial expert before making deciding what to do.
Asked about SCANA employee and retiree stock holdings, SCANA said it has about 5,400 employees in its three states of operation -- North and
As of
A SCANA official said Monday the company has no immediate comment on its stocks' prospects.
"We generally do not comment publicly on the performance of SCANA's stock outside of our regularly scheduled earnings announcements," spokesman
___
(c)2017 The State (Columbia, S.C.)
Visit The State (Columbia, S.C.) at www.thestate.com
Distributed by Tribune Content Agency, LLC.
The Latest: Police search shooter’s house in Reno, Nevada
Maryland Health Exchange Opens Website For Browsing Plans
Advisor News
Annuity News
Health/Employee Benefits News
Life Insurance News