Southern (NYSE:SO) Lowered to “Sell” Rating by Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a report released on Saturday morning.

SO has been the topic of several other research reports. UBS Group raised their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Cowen began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating on the stock. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Barclays lowered their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, November 20th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.03.

Southern Stock Down 1.2%

SO opened at $86.25 on Friday. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $93.15 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.46. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market cap of $94.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.35, a P/E/G ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.45. Southern has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 15.42%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.39 EPS. As a group, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 73.27%.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 3.3% in the 1st quarter. Chicago Partners Investment Group LLC now owns 9,715 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $895,000 after buying an additional 308 shares during the period. Deutsche Bank AG boosted its position in Southern by 2.7% in the 1st quarter. Deutsche Bank AG now owns 1,926,456 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $177,138,000 after buying an additional 50,182 shares during the last quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 22.4% in the first quarter. AlphaCore Capital LLC now owns 7,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $663,000 after acquiring an additional 1,318 shares during the last quarter. LaSalle St. Investment Advisors LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $258,000. Finally, Founders Financial Alliance LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the first quarter worth $224,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.