Southern (NYSE:SO) Now Covered by TD Cowen

Key Points

• TD Cowen has initiated coverage on Southern (NYSE:SO) with a "buy" rating and a price target of $112.00, indicating a potential upside of 12.37% from its current price.
• Other analysts have mixed ratings, with Mizuho and JPMorgan assigning "neutral" ratings, while BMO Capital Markets upgraded its target to $102.00 with an "outperform" rating.
• Southern's recent quarterly earnings showed revenue growth of 7.9% year-over-year, but earnings per share of $0.91 missed expectations by $0.08.

Stock analysts at TD Cowen initiated coverage on shares of Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) in a research note issued on Thursday, Marketbeat.com reports. The brokerage set a "buy" rating and a $112.00 price target on the utilities provider's stock. TD Cowen's target price indicates a potential upside of 12.37% from the company's current price.

Other research analysts also recently issued reports about the company. Mizuho increased their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Scotiabank reiterated a "sector perform" rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.57.

Southern Stock Down 0.0%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $99.67 on Thursday. Southern has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $100.24. The business has a 50-day moving average of $93.87 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.90. The company has a market capitalization of $109.64 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.62, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.51 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. As a group, equities analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its holdings in Southern by 24.7% during the 2nd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,527 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares during the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,352,000. Investors Research Corp lifted its holdings in Southern by 1,982.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,672,000 after purchasing an additional 30,618 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Czech National Bank increased its stake in Southern by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $24,670,000 after acquiring an additional 17,111 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.

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