Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Raised to $66.00 at Barclays

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its target price hoisted by Barclays from $65.00 to $66.00 in a research note released on Monday morning, Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities analysts have also recently issued reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets reissued an outperform rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Royal Bank of Canada reissued an outperform rating and set a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. UBS Group lowered Southern from a buy rating to a neutral rating and reduced their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $74.07.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $68.39 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $68.78 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $68.95. Southern has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The stock has a market cap of $74.86 billion, a P/E ratio of 18.84, a PEG ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company’s revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southern will post 4 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Wednesday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 20th were given a dividend of $0.70 per share. The ex-dividend date was Friday, February 16th. This represents a $2.80 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.09%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 77.14%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The stock was sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total transaction of $334,700.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,998 shares of company stock worth $1,446,113 over the last ninety days. 0.37% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Large investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc raised its stake in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Finally, Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $34,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors 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.