Southern (NYSE:SO) Given New $97.00 Price Target at Guggenheim

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its target price upped by equities researchers at Guggenheim from $93.00 to $97.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price target would indicate a potential upside of 6.23% from the company’s previous close.

SO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Bank of America boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Scotiabank boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, August 20th. Finally, UBS Group boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $88.27.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.43 during trading on Wednesday, reaching $91.31. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,057,648 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,468,038. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $99.84 billion, a PE ratio of 23.60, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. Southern has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $91.77. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $87.42 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $79.96.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Southern’s revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. On average, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 15,845 shares of company stock valued at $1,335,135. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vista Capital Partners Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the 2nd quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $678,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $702,000 after buying an additional 124 shares during the period. Red Door Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the second quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,080,000 after buying an additional 125 shares during the period. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.1% in the second quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $493,000 after buying an additional 128 shares during the period. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.0% in the second quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $512,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.