The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives Consensus Recommendation of “Hold” from Brokerages

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have been assigned an average rating of “Hold” from the sixteen ratings firms that are presently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $89.47.

Several research firms recently issued reports on SO. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. Bank of America increased their target price on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $87.60 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Southern has a 1-year low of $65.80 and a 1-year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $95.98 billion, a PE ratio of 20.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $89.73 and its 200-day simple moving average is $84.79.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.29%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The shares were 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 12.86 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 17.13 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Acadian Asset Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 1,361.6% during the 1st quarter. Acadian Asset Management LLC now owns 3,201 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $229,000 after buying an additional 2,982 shares during the last quarter. Quadrature Capital Ltd bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $1,168,000. 1832 Asset Management L.P. grew its stake in Southern by 11.9% during the 1st quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 30,938 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,219,000 after buying an additional 3,293 shares during the last quarter. Earnest Partners LLC increased its position in Southern by 2.8% in the first quarter. Earnest Partners LLC now owns 14,126 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,013,000 after buying an additional 380 shares during the period. Finally, Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 422.2% in the first quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 40,501 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,906,000 after buying an additional 32,745 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.