Southern (NYSE:SO) Reaches New 52-Week High - Should You Buy?

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) reached a new 52-week high during trading on Friday . The company traded as high as $94.63 and last traded at $94.01, with a volume of 1084197 shares traded. The stock had previously closed at $93.33.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several analysts recently commented on the company. KeyCorp downgraded Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an "equal weight" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. Guggenheim reissued a "neutral" rating and set a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.20.

Southern Stock Performance

The company has a market cap of $103.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.47, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.86 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $89.96 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $88.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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 for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.70% and a net margin of 16.54%. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.15%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 during the period. Geode Capital Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the fourth quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $2,056,441,000 after buying an additional 528,870 shares during the period. Northern Trust Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,003,419,000 after buying an additional 107,394 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 1.2% during 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 purchasing an additional 81,066 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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