Southern (NYSE:SO) PT Raised to $90.00 at Argus

Southern (NYSE:SO - Free Report) had its target price raised by Argus from $75.00 to $90.00 in a report published on Wednesday morning, Benzinga reports. Argus currently has a buy rating on the utilities provider's stock.

SO has been the topic of a number of other reports. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Tuesday, April 23rd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Friday, May 3rd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus target price of $75.73.

Southern Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.58 on Wednesday, hitting $79.29. 4,129,062 shares of the company's stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,845,751. The company has a fifty day moving average of $71.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $70.24. Southern has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $79.77. The company has a market capitalization of $86.79 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.38 and a beta of 0.48. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a current ratio of 0.92 and a quick ratio of 0.65.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. The company's quarterly revenue was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. As a group, sell-side analysts expect that Southern will post 3.99 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.63%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 72.35%.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. In related news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,117,660.16. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 0.5% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 100,089,634 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $7,180,430,000 after purchasing an additional 481,071 shares during the period. FMR LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 5.0% in the third quarter. FMR LLC now owns 38,906,760 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,518,045,000 after acquiring an additional 1,838,857 shares during the period. Capital International Investors grew its stake in Southern by 45.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its holdings in Southern by 1.6% during the 3rd quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,737,843 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $694,953,000 after acquiring an additional 163,986 shares during the period. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted its holdings in Southern by 3.7% in the 3rd quarter. Morgan Stanley now owns 9,811,307 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $634,988,000 after purchasing an additional 349,122 shares during the period. 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.