Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Receives Average Rating of “Hold” from Analysts

Shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) have received a consensus recommendation of “Hold” from the twenty analysts that are currently covering the company, MarketBeat Ratings reports. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eleven have assigned a hold recommendation and seven have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price target among brokerages that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $100.0882.

Several brokerages recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Monday, July 27th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Thursday, July 23rd. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $92.00 to $89.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, August 21st. Mizuho set a $106.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, July 31st. Finally, Truist Financial lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, August 13th.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. California State Teachers Retirement System grew its stake in Southern by 9,736.0% in the 2nd quarter. California State Teachers Retirement System now owns 125,596,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $12,020,878,000 after acquiring an additional 124,319,975 shares during the period. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth $1,111,450,000. Legal & General Group Plc acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth $737,256,000. Capital World Investors grew its position in shares of Southern by 22.6% in the fourth quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 41,142,076 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,587,589,000 after purchasing an additional 7,593,224 shares during the period. Finally, Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD grew its position in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the fourth quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,004,866,000 after purchasing an additional 5,436,212 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 0.6%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $87.82 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Southern has a twelve month low of $83.80 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The firm has a market capitalization of $101.02 billion, a PE ratio of 21.06, a P/E/G ratio of 2.35 and a beta of 0.33. The firm’s 50-day moving average price is $92.75 and its 200 day moving average price is $94.12.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Southern will post 4.59 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Tuesday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 17th were given a $0.76 dividend. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 72.90%.

Southern Company Profile

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.