The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives $90.54 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) have been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the fourteen brokerages that are currently covering the firm, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, nine have assigned a hold recommendation and four have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $90.54.

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Finally, Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO traded up $2.82 on Wednesday, hitting $91.54. The stock had a trading volume of 6,727,812 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,285,584. The business's 50-day simple moving average is $85.07 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $87.00. The stock has a market cap of $100.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.83, a price-to-earnings-growth 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. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60.

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Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. The business had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.15%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business's 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 sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction 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 trade represents a 1.09 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Mizuho Securities USA LLC raised its position in Southern by 17,272.6% during the third quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after purchasing an additional 14,562,689 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP lifted its position in Southern by 325.7% in the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $355,864,000 after buying an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Synovus Financial Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 72.4% during the third quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.