Credit Suisse Group upgraded shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) from an underperform rating to a neutral rating in a research report sent to investors on Thursday, August 3rd, The Fly reports.
Other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports about the stock. Deutsche Bank AG dropped their target price on shares of Southern Company (The) from $52.00 to $50.00 and set a hold rating for the company in a research report on Tuesday, April 11th. Jefferies Group LLC reiterated a buy rating and issued a $56.00 price target on shares of Southern Company (The) in a research note on Wednesday, April 12th. Mizuho reiterated a neutral rating and issued a $49.50 price target on shares of Southern Company (The) in a research note on Wednesday, April 19th. Barclays PLC reiterated an overweight rating and issued a $56.00 price target (up from $53.00) on shares of Southern Company (The) in a research note on Sunday, April 23rd. Finally, Zacks Investment Research lowered shares of Southern Company (The) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 25th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company’s stock. Southern Company (The) presently has an average rating of Hold and an average target price of $48.79.
Southern Company (SO) opened at 48.99 on Thursday. The firm has a market cap of $48.96 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 80.58 and a beta of 0.12. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $46.20 and a 12-month high of $53.73. The company has a 50-day moving average of $48.00 and a 200 day moving average of $49.48.
Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, August 2nd. The utilities provider reported $0.73 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the Thomson Reuters’ consensus estimate of $0.71 by $0.02. The business had revenue of $5.43 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.23 billion. Southern Company (The) had a net margin of 2.93% and a return on equity of 11.30%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 21.7% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $0.74 EPS. Equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post $2.95 EPS for the current fiscal year.
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The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Wednesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 21st will be given a dividend of $0.58 per share. This represents a $2.32 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 4.74%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Thursday, August 17th. Southern Company (The)’s payout ratio is 346.27%.
In other news, CEO Mark Lantrip sold 25,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Wednesday, June 14th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.50, for a total transaction of $1,287,500.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 31,080 shares in the company, valued at $1,600,620. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, insider Ann P. Daiss sold 5,000 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Monday, June 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $51.28, for a total transaction of $256,400.00. Following the transaction, the insider now owns 7,394 shares in the company, valued at approximately $379,164.32. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders have sold 152,084 shares of company stock valued at $7,665,158. Insiders own 1.00% of the company’s stock.
Institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Macquarie Group Ltd. increased its position in shares of Southern Company (The) by 0.6% in the fourth quarter. Macquarie Group Ltd. now owns 312,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,387,000 after buying an additional 1,900 shares during the period. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC increased its position in shares of Southern Company (The) by 0.8% in the first quarter. Atalanta Sosnoff Capital LLC now owns 313,878 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $15,625,000 after buying an additional 2,485 shares during the period. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern Company (The) by 4.1% in the first quarter. Chevy Chase Trust Holdings Inc. now owns 875,204 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $43,566,000 after buying an additional 34,225 shares during the period. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY increased its position in shares of Southern Company (The) by 8.0% in the first quarter. Burns J W & Co. Inc. NY now owns 31,412 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,564,000 after buying an additional 2,335 shares during the period. Finally, Atlas Brown Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) by 21.9% in the first quarter. Atlas Brown Inc. now owns 7,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $379,000 after buying an additional 1,368 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 52.83% of the company’s stock.
About Southern Company (The)
The Southern Company (Southern Company) is a holding company. The Company owns all of the stock of the traditional electric operating companies and the parent entities of Southern Power Company (Southern Power) and Southern Company Gas, and owns other direct and indirect subsidiaries. The Company’s segments include Gas distribution operations, Gas marketing services, Wholesale gas services, Gas midstream operations and All other.
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