Barclays Raises Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $66.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price objective boosted by Barclays from $65.00 to $66.00 in a research report sent to investors on Monday, Benzinga reports. They currently have an equal weight rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

SO has been the subject of a number of other reports. UBS Group cut Southern from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $80.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company cut their price objective on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a report on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets restated an outperform rating and set a $76.00 target price (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, seven have assigned a hold rating, five have issued a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of Hold and a consensus price target of $74.07.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $69.80 on Monday. Southern has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $75.80. The business has a 50-day simple moving average of $68.84 and a 200 day simple moving average of $68.98. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The stock has a market cap of $76.41 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.23, a PEG ratio of 4.27 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $0.26 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587 in the last 90 days. Insiders own 0.37% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its stake in Southern by 62.0% during the 1st quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after purchasing an additional 170 shares during the last quarter. Sanctuary Wealth Management L.L.C. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. Finally, BKM Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $34,000. 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.