Guggenheim Increases Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $97.00

by · The Markets Daily

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Free Report) had its target price boosted by analysts at Guggenheim from $93.00 to $97.00 in a report released on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. The firm currently has a “buy” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. Guggenheim’s price objective would indicate a potential upside of 6.95% from the stock’s current price.

Other research analysts have also issued reports about the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $96.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, August 20th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Bank of America increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 29th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and seven have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $88.27.

Check Out Our Latest Analysis on Southern

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $90.70 on Wednesday. The stock has a market cap of $99.17 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.44, a PEG ratio of 3.23 and a beta of 0.52. Southern has a 52 week low of $62.26 and a 52 week high of $91.86. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.78 and its 200 day moving average price is $80.12. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.79 EPS. As a group, research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.02 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total value of $587,830.10. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. SCP Investment LP purchased a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter worth about $548,000. KBC Group NV increased its stake in Southern by 8.6% in the 4th quarter. KBC Group NV now owns 73,212 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $5,134,000 after purchasing an additional 5,785 shares in the last quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 9.5% in the 4th quarter. Rafferty Asset Management LLC now owns 121,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $8,532,000 after purchasing an additional 10,531 shares in the last quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC increased its stake in Southern by 23.6% in the 4th quarter. Belpointe Asset Management LLC now owns 8,713 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $611,000 after purchasing an additional 1,662 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC increased its stake in Southern by 2.2% in the 4th quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 131,279 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,205,000 after purchasing an additional 2,804 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Company Profile

(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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