Southern (NYSE:SO) Cut to Sell at Wall Street Zen

Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern (NYSE:SO) from a hold rating to a sell rating in a research report released on Saturday morning.

Several other equities analysts also recently weighed in on the company. The Goldman Sachs Group downgraded Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $98.00 price target for the company. in a report on Thursday, November 6th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Cowen began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. They set a “buy” rating for the company. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “underperform” rating and set a $97.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, November 20th. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They issued an “equal weight” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, four have given a Buy rating, thirteen have assigned a Hold rating and two have issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.03.

Southern Trading Down 0.8%

SO opened at $85.55 on Friday. The firm has a market capitalization of $94.20 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 21.18, a PEG ratio of 2.78 and a beta of 0.45. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $92.99 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $92.46. Southern has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.59.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.5%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 73.27%.

Institutional Trading of Southern

A number of large investors have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Allworth Financial LP lifted its holdings in Southern by 2.4% during the 3rd 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 in the last quarter. Innova Wealth Partners purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the third quarter worth approximately $226,000. CIBC Private Wealth Group LLC raised 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 acquiring an additional 1,807 shares in the last quarter. Capital Square LLC raised its stake in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 627 shares in the last quarter. Finally, CIBC Bancorp USA Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the third quarter valued at approximately $14,791,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.