The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have been given an average rating of “Hold” by the fourteen research firms that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat.com reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and four have given a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $90.54.

A number of analysts have commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank increased their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 in the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SO. Retirement Wealth Solutions LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $25,000. YANKCOM Partnership bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $26,000. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 168.1% during the 3rd quarter. Frazier Financial Advisors LLC now owns 311 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $28,000 after acquiring an additional 195 shares during the last quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 84.9% during the 4th quarter. WFA Asset Management Corp now owns 429 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 197 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 244.4% during the 4th quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 434 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $35,000 after acquiring an additional 308 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Southern Stock Down 3.1 %

SO stock opened at $90.07 on Wednesday. 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 business’s 50-day moving average is $85.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $87.07. The company has a market cap of $98.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.46, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.46. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $67.53 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. As a group, analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th were issued a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.20%. 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.