Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target Lowered to $77.00 at Scotiabank

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its price target decreased by Scotiabank from $80.00 to $77.00 in a report released on Monday, Benzinga reports. Scotiabank currently has a sector outperform rating on the utilities provider’s stock.

Several other research analysts also recently weighed in on SO. Royal Bank of Canada restated an outperform rating and issued a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an equal weight rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, February 16th. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an outperform rating and set a $76.00 price objective (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group cut 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 report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Barclays increased their target price on shares of Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $74.36.

Southern Trading Up 0.9 %

Shares of Southern stock opened at $73.92 on Monday. Southern has a 1 year low of $61.56 and a 1 year high of $75.80. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The company has a market capitalization of $80.92 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.36, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.49. The company’s fifty day moving average is $69.35 and its two-hundred day moving average is $69.27.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The company’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. Analysts forecast that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.90%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 77.13%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’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 directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’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 $8,720,309.76. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last 90 days, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587. Company insiders own 0.28% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Voisard Asset Management Group Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Scarborough Advisors LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth about $31,000. Versant Capital Management Inc boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 62.0% during 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. BKM Wealth Management LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter worth approximately $34,000. Finally, Valley National Advisers Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 63.9% during the fourth quarter. Valley National Advisers Inc. now owns 526 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $36,000 after purchasing an additional 205 shares during the period. 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.