Mizuho Downgrades Southern (NYSE:SO) to Neutral

Southern (NYSE:SO) was downgraded by Mizuho from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report released on Monday, MarketBeat reports. They currently have a $90.00 target price on the utilities provider’s stock. Mizuho’s target price would suggest a potential upside of 0.39% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other brokerages also recently commented on SO. The Goldman Sachs Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have assigned a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $84.71.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.65 on Monday. 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 $98.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.52. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.34. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $85.61 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.51.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current year.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during 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 acquiring an additional 481,071 shares in the last quarter. Capital International Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 45.9% during 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 in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $631,068,000. Wellington Management Group LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 36.0% during the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after acquiring an additional 934,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Raymond James & Associates lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 21.3% during the 2nd quarter. Raymond James & Associates now owns 2,572,230 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $199,528,000 after acquiring an additional 452,075 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.