Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Raised to $90.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its target price boosted by Barclays from $83.00 to $90.00 in a research report released on Tuesday morning,Benzinga reports. Barclays currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other brokerages have also commented on SO. Mizuho boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. UBS Group boosted their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, March 21st. Guggenheim cut Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Nine equities research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $92.54.

Southern Trading Down 0.1 %

NYSE SO opened at $91.07 on Tuesday. Southern has a one year low of $73.14 and a one year high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.70 and a 200 day simple moving average of $87.35. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.19 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.71, a P/E/G ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.34 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. Research analysts expect that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.25%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 71.82%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total transaction of $2,997,532.80. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Golden State Wealth Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 18.7% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Confluence Wealth Services Inc. now owns 15,396 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,403,000 after buying an additional 162 shares in the last quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Jeppson Wealth Management LLC now owns 17,503 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,609,000 after buying an additional 121 shares during the period. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 2.2% in the 1st quarter. TCV Trust & Wealth Management Inc. now owns 6,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $591,000 after buying an additional 136 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 3Chopt Investment Partners LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $555,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

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.