Southern (NYSE:SO) Stock Price Expected to Rise, Morgan Stanley Analyst Says

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price objective boosted by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $88.00 to $91.00 in a report released on Thursday,Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target points to a potential upside of 2.01% from the company’s previous close.

A number of other research analysts have also recently commented on the company. Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $91.46.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $89.21 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.69 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.26. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.84 billion, a PE ratio of 22.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. Southern has a 1 year low of $67.53 and a 1 year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SO. GSA Capital Partners LLP purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth about $302,000. Empowered Funds LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the third quarter. Empowered Funds LLC now owns 23,042 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,078,000 after purchasing an additional 915 shares during the last quarter. Commerce Bank grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.8% during the third quarter. Commerce Bank now owns 150,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $13,616,000 after purchasing an additional 8,246 shares during the last quarter. Hilton Capital Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth about $216,000. Finally, Howe & Rusling Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 55.8% during the third quarter. Howe & Rusling Inc. now owns 7,228 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $652,000 after buying an additional 2,589 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other 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.