The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Given Average Recommendation of “Moderate Buy” by Analysts

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has received an average rating of “Moderate Buy” from the fourteen research firms that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have issued a hold recommendation, seven have given a buy recommendation and one has issued a strong buy recommendation on the company. The average 1-year price objective among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.14.

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Scotiabank decreased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Bank of America increased their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its position in shares of Southern by 3.7% during the 3rd quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 7,157 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $466,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 14.3% in the 3rd quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 107,524 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,959,000 after purchasing an additional 13,490 shares during the period. Teza Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $579,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.3% in the 3rd quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,691 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares during the period. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 6,093.7% in the 3rd quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 490,357 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $31,736,000 after purchasing an additional 482,440 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.2 %

NYSE SO opened at $78.05 on Friday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $77.33 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.18. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $80.84. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.34 billion, a PE ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.69%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 74.42%.

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.