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

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has been assigned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year target price among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $88.27.

Several analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Guggenheim increased their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 2nd. Morgan Stanley increased their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, September 25th. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $88.96 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day simple moving average of $88.31 and a 200-day simple moving average of $81.00. 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 stock has a market cap of $97.27 billion, a PE ratio of 22.99, a P/E/G ratio of 3.18 and a beta of 0.52. Southern has a twelve month low of $64.53 and a twelve month high of $91.86.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm 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 firm earned $0.79 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 38,945 shares of company stock valued at $3,488,826 in the last ninety days. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Vista Capital Partners Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Vista Capital Partners Inc. now owns 8,743 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $678,000 after buying an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the second quarter. Modera Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,048 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $702,000 after purchasing an additional 124 shares in the last quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the second quarter. Red Door Wealth Management LLC now owns 13,926 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,080,000 after purchasing an additional 125 shares during the last quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the 2nd quarter. Elwood & Goetz Wealth Advisory Group LLC now owns 6,352 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $493,000 after purchasing an additional 128 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 2.0% during the 2nd quarter. Moloney Securities Asset Management LLC now owns 6,595 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $512,000 after buying an additional 131 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.