Southern (NYSE:SO) PT Raised to $73.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price objective raised by stock analysts at Bank of America from $70.00 to $73.00 in a research report issued on Tuesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “neutral” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Bank of America‘s target price would indicate a potential downside of 1.24% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research firms also recently weighed in on SO. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho lifted their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Royal Bank of Canada restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.36.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of SO stock opened at $73.92 on Tuesday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $69.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.27. Southern has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The company has a market capitalization of $80.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 EPS. The company’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. Equities analysts forecast that Southern will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 over the last three months. 0.28% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. PSI Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 22.1% in the 1st quarter. PSI Advisors LLC now owns 8,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $598,000 after purchasing an additional 1,509 shares during the period. Keene & Associates Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Keene & Associates Inc. now owns 25,833 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,853,000 after buying an additional 257 shares in the last quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 12.4% in the first quarter. Pinnacle Wealth Management Group Inc. now owns 5,424 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $389,000 after buying an additional 600 shares in the last quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 16.7% in the first quarter. Trinity Legacy Partners LLC now owns 55,153 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,957,000 after buying an additional 7,906 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Dakota Wealth Management grew its stake in shares of Southern by 5,223.1% in the first quarter. Dakota Wealth Management now owns 184,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,232,000 after buying an additional 180,981 shares in the last quarter. 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.