The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives $91.46 Consensus Target Price from Brokerages

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and five have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokerages that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $91.46.

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. UBS Group upped their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Scotiabank upped their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target 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.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last ninety days, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock valued at $4,348,784. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several large investors have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Townsquare Capital LLC grew its stake in Southern by 40.8% in the third quarter. Townsquare Capital LLC now owns 26,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,392,000 after purchasing an additional 7,694 shares during the period. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.7% during the 3rd quarter. Zurcher Kantonalbank Zurich Cantonalbank now owns 213,985 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $19,297,000 after buying an additional 9,689 shares in the last quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co grew its position in shares of Southern by 4.0% in the 3rd quarter. Fiduciary Trust Co now owns 7,568 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $682,000 after buying an additional 289 shares during the period. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 0.6% in the 3rd quarter. Rockefeller Capital Management L.P. now owns 170,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $15,303,000 after acquiring an additional 988 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Captrust Financial Advisors lifted its position in Southern by 1.4% during the 3rd quarter. Captrust Financial Advisors now owns 286,666 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,852,000 after acquiring an additional 3,820 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $89.07 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $88.14 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.33. Southern has a twelve month low of $67.53 and a twelve month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

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.