Morgan Stanley Lowers Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $90.00

Southern (NYSE:SO - Free Report) had its target price reduced by Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $90.00 in a research report released on Wednesday morning,Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider's stock.

A number of other research analysts also recently commented on SO. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock traded up $0.46 during midday trading on Wednesday, reaching $89.09. 10,746,136 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,605,093. 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 business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.75 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $87.33. Southern has a one year low of $76.96 and a one year high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.92 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.26, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.38.

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

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.32%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419,724 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 2.2% in the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after acquiring an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after acquiring an additional 107,394 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $614,297,000 after acquiring an additional 81,066 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.