KeyCorp Downgrades Southern (NYSE:SO) to Underweight

KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) from a sector weight rating to an underweight rating in a research note published on Wednesday morning, Marketbeat Ratings reports. The brokerage currently has $78.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other equities analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. UBS Group boosted 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upgraded shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $94.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 8th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. Finally, Guggenheim reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $93.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have given a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $92.07.

Southern Stock Down 0.5%

SO stock opened at $85.16 on Wednesday. The firm’s fifty day simple moving average is $90.03 and its 200-day simple moving average is $87.22. The company has a market capitalization of $93.60 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.24, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. Southern has a 12 month low of $76.64 and a 12 month high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The business had revenue of $7.78 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $1.03 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.48%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred 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 in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. The trade was a 23.16% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total transaction of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Institutional investors have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Financial Enhancement Group LLC acquired a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $326,000. Verity & Verity LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 2.8% during the 4th quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 201,971 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $16,626,000 after purchasing an additional 5,434 shares in the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 9.4% in the 4th quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 292,700 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,095,000 after buying an additional 25,200 shares in the last quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 10.2% in the 4th quarter. AM Investment Strategies LLC now owns 89,441 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,363,000 after buying an additional 8,261 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Town & Country Bank & Trust CO dba First Bankers Trust CO purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $384,000. Hedge funds and other 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.