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

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have been given a consensus recommendation of “Hold” by the thirteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, five have given a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $76.14.

A number of equities research analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Bank of America upped their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, May 31st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus upped their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research note on Monday, April 22nd.

Insider Activity

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth approximately $631,068,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in Southern by 45.9% in the 1st quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares during the period. Ameriprise Financial Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 38.5% in the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after purchasing an additional 2,096,988 shares during the period. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $128,413,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 6,303.7% in the 4th quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,199,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $84,112,000 after purchasing an additional 1,180,812 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Trading Up 0.7 %

SO opened at $77.55 on Friday. Southern has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $80.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. The company has a market cap of $84.80 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.04, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.79 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $77.66 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $72.31.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced 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 is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 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.