Southern (NYSE:SO) Given New $90.00 Price Target at Barclays

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price target increased by Barclays from $83.00 to $90.00 in a research report sent to investors on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley restated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.54.

Southern Trading Up 1.8 %

Shares of SO opened at $91.85 on Tuesday. Southern has a 1 year low of $72.11 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.48 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $87.30. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $101.05 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.91, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) 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 the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, equities analysts expect that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.22%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

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

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 102,790,453 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $8,461,710,000 after buying an additional 698,422 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 4.5% in the fourth quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,805,269 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $889,490,000 after acquiring an additional 460,594 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,599,710 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $543,288,000 after purchasing an additional 194,114 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.