Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Cut to $71.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price target lowered by Morgan Stanley from $74.00 to $71.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Argus increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an outperform rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their target price on shares of Southern from $72.00 to $77.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, May 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average target price of $76.14.

Southern Trading Down 0.2 %

Southern stock opened at $78.05 on Monday. The firm has a 50 day moving average of $77.33 and a 200 day moving average of $72.18. The firm has a market capitalization of $85.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.51. Southern has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $80.84. The company has a current ratio of 0.92, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.59 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.69%. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date was Friday, May 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 74.42%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Wednesday, May 1st. The stock was sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total transaction of $684,815.04. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares in the company, valued at $9,117,660.16. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Norges Bank purchased a new position in Southern in the fourth quarter valued at about $631,068,000. Capital International Investors grew its stake in shares of Southern by 45.9% during the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after acquiring an additional 7,550,570 shares during the last quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 38.5% during the third quarter. Ameriprise Financial Inc. now owns 7,547,188 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $488,461,000 after acquiring an additional 2,096,988 shares during the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth about $128,413,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 6,303.7% during the fourth quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,199,544 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $84,112,000 after acquiring an additional 1,180,812 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.