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

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

SO has been the topic of several other research reports. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $76.00 target price (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, February 21st. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price 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. Finally, UBS Group cut Southern from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have issued a hold rating, five have given a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $74.07.

Southern Trading Down 0.5 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $68.39 on Monday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The stock’s 50 day simple moving average is $68.78 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $68.95. Southern has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $75.80. The company has a market cap of $74.86 billion, a PE ratio of 18.84, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.29 and a beta of 0.49.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,099 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $706,526.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,007,222.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. In related news, insider David P. Poroch sold 10,099 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, January 17th. The stock was sold at an average price of $69.96, for a total value of $706,526.04. Following the sale, the insider now directly owns 28,691 shares in the company, valued at approximately $2,007,222.36. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last three months, insiders have sold 20,998 shares of company stock worth $1,446,113. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth approximately $631,068,000. Capital International Investors boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 53.2% during the 4th quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 16,444,163 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,153,065,000 after purchasing an additional 5,707,845 shares during the last quarter. Moneta Group Investment Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at approximately $369,131,000. Ameriprise Financial Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the 3rd quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $488,461,000 after buying an additional 2,096,988 shares during the period. Finally, Imprint Wealth LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 5,840.2% during the 2nd quarter. Imprint Wealth LLC now owns 1,949,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $194,939,000 after buying an additional 1,916,575 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.