Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Receives $100.09 Consensus PT from Brokerages

Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) have been assigned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty analysts that are presently covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $100.0882.

A number of equities research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Wall Street Zen downgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on Southern in a report on Monday, June 22nd. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Monday, July 27th. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, August 21st.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Southern by 9,736.0% during the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 125,596,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,020,878,000 after buying an additional 124,319,975 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,111,450,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $737,256,000. Capital World Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,587,589,000 after acquiring an additional 7,593,224 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in Southern by 18.7% during the 4th 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 acquiring an additional 5,436,212 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 1.1%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $89.09 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.49 billion, a PE ratio of 21.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $93.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $94.21. Southern has a 52-week low of $83.80 and a 52-week high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. The company had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. On average, analysts expect that Southern will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th were paid a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 72.90%.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.