Analysts Set The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Target Price at $76.14

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has been assigned an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen analysts that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation, seven have assigned a buy recommendation and one has assigned a strong buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.14.

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Argus boosted their price objective on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their target price on Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, May 3rd. BMO Capital Markets reissued an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after buying an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after buying an additional 205 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $77.57 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.82 billion, a PE ratio of 20.04, a PEG ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The stock’s fifty day moving average is $77.58 and its 200 day moving average is $72.27. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

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.