JPMorgan Chase & Co. Increases Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $97.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its target price upped by JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $94.00 to $97.00 in a report released on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has a “neutral” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s price objective points to a potential upside of 4.01% from the company’s previous close.

SO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 price target on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lifted their price target 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 analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.20.

Southern Stock Up 0.9%

SO opened at $93.26 on Tuesday. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The business has a 50-day moving average of $89.90 and a 200-day moving average of $88.35. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The company has a market capitalization of $102.50 billion, a PE ratio of 22.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of SO. GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 23.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 4,005 shares during the last quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 56.6% during the fourth quarter. Proficio Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,547 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $292,000 after acquiring an additional 1,282 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 4.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $427,000 after purchasing an additional 182 shares during the last quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 4.2% in the fourth quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares during the last quarter. Finally, New Age Alpha Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 16,464.2% in the fourth quarter. New Age Alpha Advisors LLC now owns 31,969 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,632,000 after purchasing an additional 31,776 shares during the last quarter. 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.