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

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) has earned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are covering the company, Marketbeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $88.27.

Several equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price objective for the company. Guggenheim upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday. Finally, UBS Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th.

Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

NYSE:SO opened at $90.31 on Friday. The firm has a fifty day simple moving average of $87.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $80.34. Southern has a 12 month low of $62.26 and a 12 month high of $91.86. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.75 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.34, a PEG ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its 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 return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts expect that Southern will post 4.02 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 19th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.19%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the transaction, 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 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 the business’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. This trade represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. 1832 Asset Management L.P. lifted its holdings in Southern by 3.0% during the fourth quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 27,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,938,000 after purchasing an additional 805 shares in the last quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 0.3% in the 4th quarter. Envestnet Asset Management Inc. now owns 2,487,028 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $174,390,000 after purchasing an additional 6,223 shares in the last quarter. Morningstar Investment Services LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $292,000. Vinva Investment Management Ltd lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 35.2% in the fourth quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 9,677 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $679,000 after buying an additional 2,520 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vermillion & White Wealth Management Group LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $55,000. 64.10% of the stock is 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.