The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives $83.71 Consensus Price Target from Brokerages

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price target among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $83.71.

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America boosted their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th.

Southern Trading Up 1.1 %

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $89.44 on Wednesday. Southern has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $90.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The company has a market capitalization of $97.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.03.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The business’s revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.22%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its holdings in Southern by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,180,430,000 after buying an additional 481,071 shares during the last quarter. Capital International Investors increased its position in Southern by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $631,068,000. Wellington Management Group LLP grew its stake in shares of Southern by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,457,000 after purchasing an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates increased its holdings in Southern by 21.3% in the second quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,528,000 after purchasing an additional 452,075 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.