Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Raised to $97.00

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) had its target price raised by stock analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $94.00 to $97.00 in a research note issued on Tuesday,Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a "neutral" rating on the utilities provider's stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.'s price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.86% from the company's previous close.

SO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. Raymond James Financial initiated coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price objective on the stock. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and dropped their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.13.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.18 during trading on Tuesday, hitting $92.50. The stock had a trading volume of 5,215,099 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,728,822. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $80.26 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The firm has a market cap of $101.66 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.08, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.38. 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 fifty day moving average of $89.88 and a two-hundred day moving average of $88.32.

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

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,582,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 107,394 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. raised its holdings in shares of 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 buying an additional 81,066 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

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.