Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Increased to $94.00 by Analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price target boosted by analysts at The Goldman Sachs Group from $83.00 to $94.00 in a report released on Friday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. The Goldman Sachs Group’s target price points to a potential upside of 7.27% from the company’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently weighed in on the stock. Argus lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a research report on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday. Scotiabank dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a report on Monday, April 22nd. Wolfe Research cut shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and dropped their price objective for the company from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have given a hold rating and eight have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $78.87.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.06 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $87.63. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 3,697,336 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,489,265. The business’s 50 day simple moving average is $79.52 and its 200 day simple moving average is $73.90. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67, a quick ratio of 0.65 and a current ratio of 0.92. The company has a market cap of $95.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.00 and a beta of 0.51. Southern has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $89.22.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. Southern had a net margin of 16.74% and a return on equity of 12.07%. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.59 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.01 EPS for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, July 30th. The was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, Director The Ernest J. Moniz 2018 Trust 8,948 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 30th. The disclosure for this trade can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter worth about $631,068,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in 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. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $128,413,000. International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in 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. Finally, Wellington Management Group LLP boosted its position in Southern by 36.0% during the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $247,457,000 after acquiring an additional 934,447 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.