Analysts Set Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) PT at $92.93

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) has received an average recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen research firms that are currently covering the firm, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1-year target price among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $92.93.

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. KeyCorp cut Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a report on Tuesday, April 8th. Finally, Barclays lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO traded down $0.35 during mid-day trading on Tuesday, hitting $91.31. 4,599,919 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,673,773. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.79, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.38. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $89.75 and its 200 day simple moving average is $87.96. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.86. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $77.62 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.24%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern's payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

A number of hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Investors Research Corp increased its stake in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at about $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Murphy & Mullick Capital Management Corp acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $37,000. 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.