Southern (NYSE:SO) Given New $90.00 Price Target at Morgan Stanley

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price objective decreased by Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $90.00 in a research report sent to investors on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. Morgan Stanley currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Other equities research analysts have also issued research reports about the company. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays raised their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. UBS Group raised their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $88.42 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $97.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.10, a PEG ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. Southern has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. The business’s 50-day simple moving average is $89.77 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.31.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.35%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Investors Research Corp raised its stake in Southern by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Kohmann Bosshard Financial Services LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $35,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. 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.