Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Given Average Rating of “Hold” by Brokerages

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) has earned a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat Ratings reports. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, eleven have issued a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 12 month price target among brokers that have covered the stock in the last year is $100.0882.

Several equities analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Mizuho set a $106.00 price target on Southern in a research note on Friday, July 31st. Barclays cut their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 1st. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, July 29th.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $87.29 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.79 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The company has a market capitalization of $100.42 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.93, a P/E/G ratio of 2.32 and a beta of 0.33. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $92.54 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $94.07. Southern has a one year low of $83.80 and a one year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The firm had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The company’s revenue was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.79 earnings per share. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.59 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 17th. This represents a $3.04 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 72.90%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System raised its holdings in Southern by 9,736.0% in the second quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 125,596,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,020,878,000 after purchasing an additional 124,319,975 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at about $1,111,450,000. Legal & General Group Plc bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $737,256,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Southern by 22.6% in the 4th quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,587,589,000 after buying an additional 7,593,224 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD raised its stake in shares of Southern by 18.7% during the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,004,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,436,212 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.