Southern (NYSE:SO) Coverage Initiated at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group initiated coverage on shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) in a research note released on Friday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $94.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts have also recently commented on SO. Bank of America boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Mizuho cut shares of Southern from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Morgan Stanley boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $78.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of Hold and an average target price of $86.33.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $90.52 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.98 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.39, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a 50 day moving average price of $86.41 and a 200 day moving average price of $79.10. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.59.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 earnings per share. Equities research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.18%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In related news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,112,375. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares in the company, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock worth $2,266,455 in the last 90 days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc grew its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% during 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 during the period. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during 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 during the period. Finally, Richardson Financial Services Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth $39,000. 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.