Morgan Stanley Lowers Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $90.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its target price lowered by investment analysts at Morgan Stanley from $91.00 to $90.00 in a report issued on Wednesday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage presently has an “equal weight” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Morgan Stanley’s price target indicates a potential upside of 1.78% from the company’s current price.

A number of other research analysts have also issued reports on SO. Wells Fargo & Company lifted their target price on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Barclays lifted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. Evercore ISI lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “in-line” rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price target on the stock in a research note on Tuesday, April 8th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.93.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $88.42 on Wednesday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.18 billion, a PE ratio of 21.10, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.38. Southern has a 12-month low of $76.96 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The business’s fifty day moving average price is $89.77 and its 200 day moving average price is $87.32.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The company’s revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Equities research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

A number of hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares during the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 25,050,209 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,056,441,000 after purchasing an additional 528,870 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $848,019,000. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 1.2% in the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,297,000 after purchasing an additional 81,066 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors 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.