The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives Consensus Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) have earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the fifteen brokerages that are covering the company, Marketbeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and six have given a buy rating to the company. The average twelve-month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $90.14.

A number of equities analysts recently commented on SO shares. Bank of America lifted their price objective on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 29th. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. UBS Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $81.78 on Friday. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $88.12 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $85.61. Southern has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The stock has a market cap of $89.61 billion, a PE ratio of 19.02, a PEG ratio of 3.04 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.03 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, December 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th were issued a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, November 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.52%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. This represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total value of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. The trade was a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Large investors have recently bought and sold shares of the stock. OneAscent Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth $576,000. Fisher Asset Management LLC grew its position in Southern by 5.4% in the 3rd quarter. Fisher Asset Management LLC now owns 108,361 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,772,000 after purchasing an additional 5,589 shares in the last quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 94.4% in the 3rd quarter. Jacobs Levy Equity Management Inc. now owns 288,679 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $26,033,000 after buying an additional 140,151 shares during the last quarter. Swiss National Bank lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the 3rd quarter. Swiss National Bank now owns 3,245,500 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,679,000 after buying an additional 15,300 shares in the last quarter. Finally, HBW Advisory Services LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 219.4% in the 3rd quarter. HBW Advisory Services LLC now owns 8,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $809,000 after buying an additional 6,162 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

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.