Southern (NYSE:SO) Upgraded at JPMorgan Chase & Co.

Southern (NYSE:SO) was upgraded by equities researchers at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has a $94.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price target indicates a potential upside of 7.81% from the stock’s previous close.

Other equities analysts also recently issued research reports about the stock. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Nine research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.00.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $87.19 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. Southern has a 1-year low of $67.53 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a 50-day moving average of $88.15 and a 200-day moving average of $87.30. The company has a market capitalization of $95.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.74, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Equities analysts expect that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 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.