The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) has been assigned a consensus rating of "Hold" from the fourteen ratings firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have assigned a hold recommendation and five have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $91.46.

Several research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, Morgan Stanley restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % 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. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

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Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Several large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter worth $26,000. WFA Asset Management Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 84.9% in the fourth quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after purchasing an additional 197 shares during the period. Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 244.4% in the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $35,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $35,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock traded down $3.49 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.07. 8,268,282 shares of the company's stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,535,919. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $88.03 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.35. The company has a market cap of $97.70 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.21, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. Southern has a 52-week low of $67.53 and a 52-week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $5.90 billion. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.23%. The ex-dividend date was Tuesday, February 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 71.82%.

Southern Company Profile

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.