The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives $89.47 Consensus PT from Analysts

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have issued a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average twelve-month target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $89.47.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Barclays increased their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, October 15th. UBS Group raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, September 20th. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price on the stock. in a report on Monday, September 16th.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was 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 directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% in the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $28,000 after purchasing an additional 195 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the second quarter worth about $39,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Southern by 31.8% in the second quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 585 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 141 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 34.7% in the third quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $45,000 after acquiring an additional 129 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Safe Harbor Fiduciary LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 3rd quarter worth approximately $49,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.5 %

Shares of SO opened at $89.74 on Monday. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $89.71 and its 200 day simple moving average is $84.97. The firm has a market capitalization of $98.33 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.87, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Southern has a twelve month low of $65.80 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Investors of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.21%. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.98%.

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.