The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have received an average rating of “Hold” from the thirteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $76.14.

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on Southern from $74.00 to $71.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, June 24th. Argus lifted their target price on Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Finally, Scotiabank lowered their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd.

Southern Stock Up 0.2 %

SO opened at $77.72 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $84.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.08, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The firm has a 50-day simple moving average of $77.83 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.39. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. Southern has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a return on equity of 12.07% and a net margin of 16.74%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 15.3% in the second quarter. Beese Fulmer Investment Management Inc. now owns 4,885 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $379,000 after purchasing an additional 650 shares during the last quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV raised its stake in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the 2nd quarter. Hudson Valley Investment Advisors Inc. ADV now owns 21,654 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,563,000 after acquiring an additional 150 shares in the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Southern by 68.9% during the second quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 13,208 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,025,000 after acquiring an additional 5,389 shares during the last quarter. Old Port Advisors boosted its stake in Southern by 7.8% in the first quarter. Old Port Advisors now owns 27,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,995,000 after acquiring an additional 2,008 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Cape Investment Advisory Inc. grew its holdings in Southern by 10.6% in the first quarter. Cape Investment Advisory Inc. now owns 15,550 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,116,000 after purchasing an additional 1,493 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.