The Southern Company (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) has been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the twelve research firms that are covering the stock, MarketBeat reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, six have assigned a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $70.75.
Several brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price target on shares of Southern from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday. KeyCorp upped their target price on shares of Southern from $69.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an “overweight” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 13th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Wednesday, January 5th. StockNews.com began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 31st. They issued a “hold” rating for the company. Finally, Bank of America downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $75.00 to $71.00 in a report on Monday, February 7th.
Shares of Southern stock opened at $76.27 on Wednesday. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.39 and its 200-day simple moving average is $66.62. Southern has a 52 week low of $60.12 and a 52 week high of $76.87. The company has a market capitalization of $80.86 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 33.75, a PEG ratio of 5.34 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a quick ratio of 0.64, a current ratio of 0.82 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.
Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Rating) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 17th. The utilities provider reported $0.36 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.35 by $0.01. The company had revenue of $5.77 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $4.75 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.02% and a net margin of 10.42%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.7% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.47 earnings per share. On average, equities analysts expect that Southern will post 3.56 earnings per share for the current year.
The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 16th will be given a $0.68 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.66. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.57%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 116.81%.
In other news, insider Christopher C. Womack sold 4,746 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, February 16th. The shares were sold at an average price of $65.07, for a total transaction of $308,822.22. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 100,005 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, March 25th. The stock was sold at an average price of $70.05, for a total transaction of $7,005,350.25. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 332,516 shares of company stock worth $23,808,569 over the last three months. 0.43% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
Several large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Mountain Pacific Investment Advisers Inc. ID purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $201,000. LVZ Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 3.7% during the first quarter. LVZ Inc. now owns 9,303 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $675,000 after buying an additional 329 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp increased its holdings in Southern by 1.5% during the first quarter. Fifth Third Bancorp now owns 99,304 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $7,201,000 after buying an additional 1,467 shares during the period. Graypoint LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $226,000. Finally, Chesapeake Wealth Management purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $310,000. 59.24% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.
Southern Company Profile (Get Rating)
The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates through Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, Wholesale Gas Services, and Gas Marketing Services segments. 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, wholesale gas services, and gas pipeline investments operations.
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