Analysts Set The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Target Price at $90.54

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fourteen analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and four have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.54.

A number of equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $91.54 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. The firm has a market cap of $100.40 billion, a PE ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.53. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $85.07 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.00. Southern has a 12-month low of $67.53 and a 12-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 (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The business had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.15%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 17,272.6% during the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Norges Bank purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 325.7% during the 4th quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares during the period. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 72.4% during the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after purchasing an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.