Southern (NYSE:SO) Now Covered by Analysts at Jefferies Financial Group

Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat reports. The firm issued a hold rating and a $94.00 price objective on the utilities provider’s stock.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on the stock. Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $66.00 to $71.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Tuesday, July 9th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an underweight rating in a report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research lowered Southern from an outperform rating to a peer perform rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Bank of America upped their target price on Southern from $86.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock a neutral rating in a research report on Thursday, August 29th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and six have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of Hold and an average price target of $86.33.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $89.70 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $86.20 and a 200 day moving average price of $78.80. 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 has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $90.34. The stock has a market cap of $98.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly 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 business had revenue of $6.46 billion during 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 firm’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. Analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.21%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 19th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 74.42%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Friday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. In other news, CEO Anthony L. Wilson sold 6,900 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $77.61, for a total value of $535,509.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 85,309 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $6,620,831.49. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Wednesday, July 3rd. The shares were 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 approximately $1,301,597.31. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Capital International Investors boosted its stake in Southern by 45.9% in the first quarter. Capital International Investors now owns 23,994,733 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,721,382,000 after purchasing an additional 7,550,570 shares in the last quarter. Confluence Investment Management LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter worth about $128,413,000. Wellington Management Group LLP increased its position in Southern by 36.0% in the 4th quarter. Wellington Management Group LLP now owns 3,529,052 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $247,457,000 after acquiring an additional 934,447 shares in the last quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 2,719.7% in the second quarter. 1832 Asset Management L.P. now owns 872,373 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $67,670,000 after acquiring an additional 841,435 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Wulff Hansen & CO. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 7,657.0% during the second quarter. Wulff Hansen & CO. now owns 571,148 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $44,304,000 after purchasing an additional 563,785 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.