Southern (NYSE:SO) PT Lowered to $71.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its target price reduced by analysts at Morgan Stanley from $74.00 to $71.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s target price indicates a potential downside of 9.00% from the company’s current price.

Several other equities research analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Argus upped their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Wednesday, May 15th. BMO Capital Markets restated an “outperform” rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped 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. Finally, UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research note on Thursday, April 4th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, seven have given a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus price target of $76.14.

Southern Stock Down 1.7 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $78.02 on Monday. The company’s 50-day simple moving average is $77.16 and its 200-day simple moving average is $72.14. Southern has a 52-week low of $61.56 and a 52-week high of $80.84. The firm has a market cap of $85.31 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.51. The company has a quick ratio of 0.65, a current ratio of 0.92 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.90 by $0.13. The business had revenue of $6.65 billion for 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 company’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. Equities analysts predict that Southern will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 9,126 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, May 1st. The shares were sold at an average price of $75.04, for a total value of $684,815.04. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now directly owns 121,504 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $9,117,660.16. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of the company. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth approximately $631,068,000. Capital International Investors boosted its position in shares of Southern by 45.9% in 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. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 38.5% in 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 acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter worth approximately $128,413,000. Finally, International Assets Investment Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 6,303.7% in 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. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.