Jefferies Financial Group Initiates Coverage on Southern (NYSE:SO)

Stock analysts at Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) in a research report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 4.79% from the company’s current price.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on SO. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 9th. Morgan Stanley raised their price objective on Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 23rd. Scotiabank raised their price objective on Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, August 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. Finally, Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $86.33.

Southern Stock Up 0.9 %

SO stock opened at $89.70 on Friday. Southern has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $90.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $98.08 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.20 and a 200-day simple moving average of $78.88.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, equities research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Southern by 62.0% in the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. TruNorth Capital Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth about $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 3,628.6% in the 1st quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.