Bank of America Boosts Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $73.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price objective hoisted by Bank of America from $70.00 to $73.00 in a research report report published on Tuesday morning, Benzinga reports. They currently have a neutral rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research firms also recently issued reports on SO. Scotiabank dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a sector outperform rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, April 22nd. Barclays boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research report on Monday, April 15th. UBS Group downgraded shares of Southern from a buy rating to a neutral rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an equal weight rating for the company in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets reissued an outperform rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and an average price target of $74.36.

Southern Stock Performance

Southern stock opened at $73.20 on Tuesday. Southern has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $75.80. The company has a market capitalization of $80.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.17, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.63 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a current ratio of 0.77 and a quick ratio of 0.56. The firm’s fifty day moving average price is $69.64 and its 200 day moving average price is $69.36.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $0.26 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, research analysts forecast that Southern will post 3.99 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Investors of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 77.14%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction 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 disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% in the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 444 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $32,000 after acquiring an additional 170 shares in the last quarter. BKM Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter valued at approximately $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% in the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $36,000 after acquiring an additional 205 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Southern Company Profile

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.