Southern’s (SO) Neutral Rating Reiterated at Guggenheim

Guggenheim reiterated their neutral rating on shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) in a research note published on Friday,Benzinga reports. They currently have a $93.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on SO. Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 22nd. UBS Group lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Evercore ISI increased their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research report on Friday. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, March 20th. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Ten research analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $93.07.

Southern Trading Down 0.4 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $91.06 on Friday. Southern has a 52-week low of $74.88 and a 52-week high of $94.45. The firm has a market capitalization of $100.18 billion, a PE ratio of 22.71, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $90.09 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $87.35.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. On average, analysts expect that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.25%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 73.82%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The shares were sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 106,819 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares in the company, valued at approximately $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last quarter, insiders sold 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at approximately $848,019,000. Raymond James Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $315,290,000. Marshall Wace LLP boosted its holdings in Southern by 325.7% during the fourth quarter. Marshall Wace LLP now owns 4,322,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $355,864,000 after purchasing an additional 3,307,527 shares during the last quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in Southern by 11,230.1% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Renaissance Technologies LLC lifted its position in Southern by 562.9% during the 4th quarter. Renaissance Technologies LLC now owns 1,368,788 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $112,679,000 after buying an additional 1,162,288 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds 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.