Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Lowered to $85.00 at Morgan Stanley

Key Points

• Morgan Stanley lowered Southern’s price target from $89 to $85 and maintained an “underweight” rating, implying approximately 0.75% downside from the stock’s current price.
• Analyst sentiment is broadly neutral: Southern has a consensus “Hold” rating and an average price target of $99.85, based on seven Buy, eleven Hold, and two Sell ratings.
• Southern shares fell 1.3% to $85.64 in Friday trading. The company recently exceeded quarterly EPS expectations, reporting $1.13 versus the $1.01 consensus estimate, despite revenue coming in below forecasts.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) had its target price lowered by Morgan Stanley from $89.00 to $85.00 in a note issued to investors on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm presently has an "underweight" rating on the utilities provider's stock. Morgan Stanley's price target would indicate a potential downside of 0.75% from the stock's current price.

Several other equities research analysts have also issued reports on SO. Truist Financial lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a "hold" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, August 13th. Barclays reduced their price objective 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. Jefferies Financial Group set a $99.00 target price on Southern in a research report on Monday, June 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Finally, Weiss Ratings reiterated a "buy (b)" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $99.85.

Southern Trading Down 1.3%

Shares of NYSE:SO traded down $1.12 during trading on Friday, reaching $85.64. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,041,451 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,721,977. The firm's 50 day simple moving average is $91.77 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $93.78. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Southern has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.52 billion, a PE ratio of 20.55, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.30 and a beta of 0.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.23 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.93% and a net margin of 15.43%.The company's revenue for the quarter was up .1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at about $1,111,450,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter worth approximately $737,256,000. Capital World Investors boosted its stake in 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 purchasing an additional 7,593,224 shares in the last quarter. Mitsubishi UFJ Asset Management Co. Ltd. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $264,829,000. Finally, Hsbc Holdings PLC acquired a new position in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at approximately $191,120,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

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.

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