Morgan Stanley Increases Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $82.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price objective hoisted by Morgan Stanley from $78.00 to $82.00 in a report issued on Wednesday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other analysts also recently weighed in on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an equal weight rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an underweight rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a neutral rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an outperform rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho downgraded shares of Southern from an outperform rating to a neutral rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a report on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $86.60.

Southern Trading Up 1.3 %

NYSE SO opened at $90.10 on Wednesday. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $87.06 and a 200 day simple moving average of $79.53. Southern has a 12 month low of $61.56 and a 12 month high of $90.85. The company has a market capitalization of $98.52 billion, a PE ratio of 23.28, a P/E/G ratio of 3.21 and a beta of 0.52. 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) last released its 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 firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for 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 business’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. Research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Friday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 19th were given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 19th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.20%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 74.42%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 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 value of $931,320.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 16,771 shares in the company, valued at $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the period. TruNorth Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth $39,000. Finally, Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 3,628.6% during the first quarter. Financial Synergies Wealth Advisors Inc. now owns 522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $37,000 after purchasing an additional 508 shares during the period. 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.