Southern (NYSE:SO) Rating Lowered to Neutral at Mizuho

by · The Cerbat Gem

Mizuho cut shares of Southern (NYSE:SO – Free Report) from an outperform rating to a neutral rating in a report issued on Monday, Marketbeat.com reports. They currently have $90.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other brokerages also recently commented on SO. Bank of America increased their price target on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Barclays increased their price target on Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. Wolfe Research downgraded Southern from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have given a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus target price of $84.71.

View Our Latest Stock Analysis on SO

Southern Trading Down 0.2 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $88.87 on Monday. The stock has a market cap of $97.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.96, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $86.01 and a 200 day simple moving average of $78.65. Southern has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $90.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Free Report) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The business had revenue of $6.46 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.10 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.88% and a net margin of 17.67%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.79 EPS. On average, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.01 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Investors of record on Monday, August 19th were given a $0.72 dividend. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.24%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total transaction of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $6,620,831.49. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at $631,068,000. Capital International Investors increased its stake in shares of Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,721,382,000 after buying an additional 7,550,570 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at $128,413,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its stake in shares of Southern by 36.0% in the fourth quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after buying an additional 934,447 shares in the last quarter. Finally, 1832 Asset Management L.P. increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $67,670,000 after buying an additional 841,435 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

About Southern

(Get Free Report)

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.

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