Southern Company (NYSE:SO) does about 4.31M shares in volume on a normal day but saw 3647132 shares change hands in the recent trading day. The company now has a market cap of 102.06B USD. Its current market price is $93.24, marking an increase of 0.58% compared to the previous close of $92.70. The 52 week high reached by this stock is $92.85 whilst the lowest price level in 52 weeks is $64.53. The script in recent trading has seen the stock touch a high of $90 and a low of $63.
Southern Company (SO) has a 20-day trading average at $90.27 and the current price is 0.42% off the 52-week high compared with 44.49% distance from its 52-week low. The 50-day simple moving average of the closing price is $88.82 and its 200-day simple moving average is $77.88. If we look at the stock’s price movements over the week, volatility stands at 1.38%, which increases to 1.47% over 1 month. It is also key to look at other market indicators of price movement for the stock, where we see that the relative strength index (RSI) is at 68.15 to suggest the stock is neutral.
12 analysts observing the Southern Company (SO) stock have set the 12-month price targets for the company’s shares at between $63 and $90. The consensus objective for the share price is $91.56, suggesting that the stock has a potential downside of -1.83% over the period. The median price target is -16.55% away from the current levels at $80.
FactSet Research has provided data showing that 12 brokerages have issued ratings for the stock. 0 analysts have rated it as a sell, while 0 advise that it is a overweight. 7 analysts have rated it as a buy and 5 have advised that investors hold their positions. The consensus recommendation rating is Buy and Wall Street’s advice is for investors to Moderate Buy the stock.
The company shares received a number of brokerage firm price updates over the past month, with the latest being on September 20, 2024 when Jefferies initiated the stock to “Hold” and issued a price target of $94. Mizuho downgraded the stock to “Neutral” from Outperform on September 16, 2024 at a price target of $90.
The current price level is 3.29%, 4.98%, and 19.73% away from its SMA20, SMA50, and SMA200 respectively, with the SO price moving above the 50-day SMA on current market day. Southern Company (SO) stock is up 4.81% over the week and 4.93% over the past month. Its price is 32.97% year-to-date and 40.00% over the past year.
The stock last released its quarterly earnings report for quarter ended 6/30/2024, with the company’s earnings per share (EPS) of 1.42 above consensus estimates by 0.1. The company’s next earnings report forecasts estimating quarterly EPS at 1.35 and 4.03 for whole year. Expected sales for next quarter are $6.3B, which analysts say will come at $26.4B for the current fiscal year and next year at $27.41B. In addition, estimates put the company’s current quarterly revenue at an average of $7.28B.
Its 12-month price target is $80. To reach the target analysts have set, the stock logically needs to shrink -1.83 percent from here. Of course, the average price target is just what the average analysts believe a stock will be worth in the next 52 weeks, and is only one metric. There are analysts with lower targets than the average, including one bearish Wall Street research firm advocating investors to wait for the price to pull back to $63, given the recent momentum. And then, on the bullish side of things, one analyst is expecting the stock to peak at $90.
The company has a return on investment of 4.92% and return on equity of 14.60%. The price to earnings ratio (P/E ratio) amounts to 22.23 while the forward price to earnings ratio is 21.57. The beta has a value of 0.51. Price to book ratio is 3.15 and price to sales ratio is 3.91.
