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

Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) have been given an average recommendation of “Hold” by the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation and seven have assigned a buy recommendation to the company. The average 1-year price target among brokers that have updated their coverage on the stock in the last year is $99.3824.

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. Evercore upgraded shares of Southern from an “in-line” rating to an “outperform” rating and set a $111.00 target price for the company in a report on Thursday, March 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a report on Friday, February 20th. KeyCorp upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, March 4th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a report on Friday.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $90.42 on Friday. Southern has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.47 and a 200-day moving average of $91.83. The firm has a market cap of $101.93 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.01, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.07 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 77.35%.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total value of $2,416,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares in the company, valued at $10,015,205.34. This trade represents a 19.44% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 30,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $2,973,740. The trade was a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The SEC filing for this sale provides additional information. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 320.3% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,179,425,000 after purchasing an additional 25,567,431 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $1,111,450,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 18.7% during the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,004,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,436,212 shares during the period. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 83.8% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,912 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.5% during the fourth quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after purchasing an additional 1,643,090 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.