Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Increased to $73.00 by Analysts at Bank of America

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price target boosted by equities researchers at Bank of America from $70.00 to $73.00 in a report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s price target would indicate a potential downside of 1.24% from the company’s previous close.

SO has been the topic of several other reports. Scotiabank lowered their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group lowered Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.36.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Southern stock opened at $73.92 on Tuesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $69.35 and its 200-day simple moving average is $69.27. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.92 billion, a PE ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.49. Southern has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $75.80.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 in the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 0.9% during the first quarter. Cornell Pochily Investment Advisors Inc. now owns 16,141 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,158,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 3.1% during the third quarter. Insigneo Advisory Services LLC now owns 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $316,000 after purchasing an additional 146 shares during the period. Good Life Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.8% during the fourth quarter. Good Life Advisors LLC now owns 19,956 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,399,000 after purchasing an additional 149 shares during the period. Insight Inv LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the fourth quarter. Insight Inv LLC now owns 10,530 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $738,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. Finally, Patten & Patten Inc. TN increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the fourth quarter. Patten & Patten Inc. TN now owns 20,736 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,454,000 after purchasing an additional 150 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.