Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Receives $94.91 Average Price Target from Analysts

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) has earned an average recommendation of “Hold” from the nineteen analysts that are presently covering the stock, Marketbeat.com reports. Three equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have given a hold recommendation and four have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12 month price objective among analysts that have covered the stock in the last year is $94.9118.

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on the company. TD Cowen reiterated a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, December 11th. Jefferies Financial Group dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a report on Monday, December 15th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $104.00 to $93.00 and set a “neutral” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, December 15th. The Goldman Sachs Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Thursday, November 6th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered shares of Southern from an “equal weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and dropped their price target for the company from $97.00 to $84.00 in a research note on Tuesday, January 20th.

Southern Stock Up 0.7%

NYSE:SO opened at $88.18 on Friday. The company has a current ratio of 0.75, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a 50 day moving average of $87.56 and a 200-day moving average of $91.72. The firm has a market capitalization of $97.09 billion, a PE ratio of 21.83, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.65 and a beta of 0.46. Southern has a 52 week low of $82.69 and a 52 week high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 15.42%.The business had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the business. Capital World Investors increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 320.3% during the third quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,179,425,000 after purchasing an additional 25,567,431 shares during the period. Norges Bank bought a new position in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,179,715,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC grew its position in Southern by 9,099.6% in the 2nd quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $406,011,000 after buying an additional 4,373,271 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP increased its stake in Southern by 83.8% during the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $376,266,000 after buying an additional 1,867,912 shares during the period. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern by 1.6% during the 2nd quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after buying an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.