Southern (NYSE:SO) Rating Lowered to “Neutral” at Guggenheim

Southern (NYSE:SO) was downgraded by research analysts at Guggenheim from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note issued to investors on Thursday,Finviz reports.

Several other equities research analysts have also recently issued reports on SO. Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. BMO Capital Markets dropped their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 1st. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $90.14.

Southern Trading Down 2.6 %

NYSE:SO opened at $82.51 on Thursday. The company’s 50 day moving average price is $84.46 and its 200-day moving average price is $86.38. Southern has a 52 week low of $65.80 and a 52 week high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market cap of $90.40 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 19.19, a PEG ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities research analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of institutional investors and hedge funds have recently bought and sold shares of SO. Mizuho Securities USA LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 17,272.6% in the 3rd quarter. Mizuho Securities USA LLC now owns 14,647,000 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,320,866,000 after acquiring an additional 14,562,689 shares during the last quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 8,741.6% in the 3rd quarter. International Assets Investment Management LLC now owns 1,502,813 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $135,524,000 after acquiring an additional 1,485,816 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 72.4% in the 3rd quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 3,077,959 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $277,570,000 after buying an additional 1,293,072 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.6% in the 3rd quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 24,521,339 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $2,203,386,000 after buying an additional 1,075,768 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Fort Washington Investment Advisors Inc. OH purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 4th quarter worth $51,605,000. 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.