Wall Street Zen Upgrades Southern (NYSE:SO) to Hold

Southern (NYSE:SO) was upgraded by investment analysts at Wall Street Zen from a “sell” rating to a “hold” rating in a research note issued on Saturday, Wall Street Zen reports.

A number of other research firms have also commented on SO. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $79.00 price objective for the company. in a research report on Thursday, July 23rd. Truist Financial decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $97.00 and set a “hold” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, August 13th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, July 29th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $102.00 to $104.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Monday, July 27th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.85.

Southern Trading Down 0.0%

NYSE:SO opened at $85.52 on Friday. Southern has a 12 month low of $83.80 and a 12 month high of $100.83. The company has a current ratio of 0.79, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm’s 50 day moving average is $91.57 and its 200 day moving average is $93.70. The stock has a market capitalization of $98.37 billion, a PE ratio of 20.51, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.28 and a beta of 0.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, July 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.13 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.01 by $0.12. The business had revenue of $6.98 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $7.23 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.43% and a return on equity of 12.93%. The company’s revenue was up .1% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 earnings per share. Sell-side analysts expect that Southern will post 4.59 earnings per share for the current year.

Institutional Trading of Southern

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently bought and sold shares of the company. Evergreen Advisors LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $25,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $25,000. Bullseye Investment Management LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $26,000. Cornerstone Financial Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $27,000. Finally, J.Safra Asset Management Corp bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at $30,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia.