JPMorgan Chase & Co. Cuts Southern (NYSE:SO) Price Target to $93.00

Southern (NYSE:SO) had its target price cut by research analysts at JPMorgan Chase & Co. from $104.00 to $93.00 in a research note issued to investors on Monday,Benzinga reports. The brokerage currently has a “neutral” rating on the utilities provider’s stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co.‘s target price would indicate a potential upside of 8.79% from the stock’s current price.

A number of other equities research analysts have also recently commented on the stock. Barclays decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $91.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. KeyCorp lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $87.00 to $76.00 and set an “underweight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday. BTIG Research initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. They issued a “neutral” rating for the company. Mizuho dropped their price objective on Southern from $97.00 to $88.00 and set a “neutral” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday. Finally, UBS Group lifted their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have issued a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $97.21.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO traded up $1.05 during midday trading on Monday, hitting $85.49. 2,476,184 shares of the company’s stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,273,828. Southern has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $94.13 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.16, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.72 and a beta of 0.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.59 and a current ratio of 0.75. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $92.20 and a 200 day moving average of $92.32.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. The company had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 15.42%.Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.39 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Hedge funds and other institutional investors have recently made changes to their positions in the company. Allworth Financial LP increased its stake in shares of Southern by 2.4% during the third quarter. Allworth Financial LP now owns 183,046 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $17,347,000 after buying an additional 4,263 shares during the period. Innova Wealth Partners purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the 3rd quarter worth approximately $226,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.3% during the third quarter. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC now owns 141,179 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $13,380,000 after purchasing an additional 1,807 shares in the last quarter. Capital Square LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 2.5% during the third quarter. Capital Square LLC now owns 26,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,484,000 after buying an additional 627 shares during the period. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the third quarter worth approximately $14,791,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

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.