Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Receives $98.08 Average Target Price from Brokerages

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) has been assigned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the twenty ratings firms that are currently covering the stock, MarketBeat Ratings reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, twelve have issued a hold recommendation and seven have given a buy recommendation to the company. The average 12-month price objective among brokers that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $98.6944.

SO has been the subject of a number of recent research reports. Royal Bank Of Canada reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $105.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, January 23rd. Truist Financial set a $103.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Citigroup reissued a “buy” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southern and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the stock a “sector perform” rating in a research note on Friday, February 20th.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $97.18 on Thursday. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.65 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.73, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.13 and a 200 day moving average of $92.19. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, February 18th. The utilities provider reported $0.55 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.56 by ($0.01). The company had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.41 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.69% and a return on equity of 12.52%. The business’s revenue was up 10.1% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $0.50 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 17th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Tuesday, February 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 75.32%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total value of $2,416,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $10,015,205.34. This trade represents a 19.44% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total transaction of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president directly owned 30,800 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $2,973,740. The trade was a 17.80% decrease in their ownership of the stock. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Capital World Investors lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 320.3% in the 3rd quarter. Capital World Investors now owns 33,548,852 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,179,425,000 after acquiring an additional 25,567,431 shares during the last quarter. Norges Bank bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $1,111,450,000. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 18.7% in the 4th quarter. Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD now owns 34,459,462 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,004,866,000 after acquiring an additional 5,436,212 shares during the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 83.8% in the 2nd quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after acquiring an additional 1,867,912 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.5% in the 4th quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 108,057,413 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,422,606,000 after acquiring an additional 1,643,090 shares during 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.