Southern (NYSE:SO) Upgraded at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen upgraded shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) from a sell rating to a hold rating in a research note issued to investors on Saturday morning.

Several other equities research analysts also recently issued reports on the company. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price target on the stock. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp lifted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.56.

Southern Trading Down 0.2%

NYSE:SO opened at $90.49 on Friday. The company’s 50 day moving average is $94.10 and its 200-day moving average is $92.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The firm has a market cap of $99.64 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.39 EPS. Equities analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.27%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

A number of institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 106,414,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,084,885,000 after acquiring an additional 510,080 shares in the last quarter. Capital World Investors lifted its stake in 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. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 0.9% during the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,006,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,377,494,000 after purchasing an additional 241,572 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern during the second quarter valued at approximately $1,179,715,000. Finally, Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.