The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Receives $92.64 Average Target Price from Analysts

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) has been assigned an average recommendation of "Hold" from the sixteen analysts that are covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. The average 1 year price objective among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $93.00.

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the company. Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 22nd. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "neutral" rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. Guggenheim reaffirmed a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, March 21st.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock traded down $0.14 during midday trading on Friday, reaching $90.22. The company's stock had a trading volume of 5,059,008 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,548,895. The stock has a market cap of $99.16 billion, a PE ratio of 22.50, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a current ratio of 0.67, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60. Southern has a 52 week low of $76.96 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $89.65 and a 200-day moving average price of $87.32.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.03 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th were issued a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.28%. Southern's payout ratio is presently 70.64%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the business. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.2% during the 4th 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 increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after acquiring an additional 107,394 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake 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 worth $614,297,000 after acquiring an additional 81,066 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by 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.