Jefferies Financial Group Begins Coverage on Southern (NYSE:SO)

Equities research analysts at Jefferies Financial Group started coverage on shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) in a report issued on Friday, Marketbeat.com reports. The firm set a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the utilities provider’s stock. Jefferies Financial Group’s price objective suggests a potential upside of 4.79% from the company’s current price.

SO has been the topic of a number of other research reports. The Goldman Sachs Group upped their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the company a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Monday, August 12th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Southern from $87.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 price target for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and six have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $86.33.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO opened at $89.70 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $98.08 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.18, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.52. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $61.56 and a fifty-two week high of $90.34. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The business’s 50-day moving average is $86.20 and its 200-day moving average is $78.88.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate 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% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $0.79 EPS. Equities research analysts expect that Southern will post 4.01 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other news, EVP Sloane N. Drake sold 12,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Wednesday, July 3rd. The stock was 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 of the company’s stock, valued at $1,301,597.31. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Over the last three months, insiders sold 27,845 shares of company stock valued at $2,266,455. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the company. Verity & Verity LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.7% in the second quarter. Verity & Verity LLC now owns 187,122 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $14,515,000 after purchasing an additional 3,118 shares in the last quarter. Cannon Financial Strategists Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the second quarter worth $762,000. Heritage Wealth Management Inc. acquired a new position in Southern during the second quarter worth $372,000. Sanctuary Advisors LLC acquired a new position in Southern during the second quarter worth $27,439,000. Finally, Gordian Capital Singapore Pte Ltd acquired a new position in Southern during the second quarter worth $325,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

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.