The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives $76.14 Consensus Price Target from Analysts

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of "Moderate Buy" from the fourteen brokerages that are covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, five have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $76.14.

Several equities analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Bank of America raised their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $79.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, May 31st. Scotiabank lowered their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and lowered their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th.

Southern Stock Down 0.6 %

SO stock traded down $0.47 during trading on Friday, hitting $77.57. 6,205,882 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,658,785. The firm has a market capitalization of $84.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.17, a PEG ratio of 2.82 and a beta of 0.51. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $77.33 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $72.18. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67. Southern has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $80.84.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. Southern's revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the company posted $0.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were paid 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.71%. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Southern's payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 121,504 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vinva Investment Management Ltd increased its holdings in Southern by 3.7% in the third quarter. Vinva Investment Management Ltd now owns 7,157 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $466,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia increased its stake in shares of Southern by 14.3% during the third quarter. Bank of Nova Scotia now owns 107,524 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $6,959,000 after purchasing an additional 13,490 shares in the last quarter. Teza Capital Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth about $579,000. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group increased its stake in shares of Southern by 8.3% during the third quarter. Rehmann Capital Advisory Group now owns 6,691 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $433,000 after purchasing an additional 513 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 6,093.7% during the third quarter. Schonfeld Strategic Advisors LLC now owns 490,357 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $31,736,000 after purchasing an additional 482,440 shares in the last quarter. 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.