Southern (SO) Projected to Post Quarterly Earnings on Thursday

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) will likely be announcing its Q4 2024 earnings results before the market opens on Thursday, February 20th. Analysts expect the company to announce earnings of $0.51 per share and revenue of $5.90 billion for the quarter. Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS and its Q1 2025 guidance at 1.200-1.200 EPS.Individual that wish to listen to the company's earnings conference call can do so using this link.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. On average, analysts expect Southern to post $4 EPS for the current fiscal year and $4 EPS for the next fiscal year.

Southern Trading Up 1.6 %

SO stock traded up $1.39 during trading on Thursday, reaching $87.87. The company had a trading volume of 5,923,264 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,015,646. The business has a 50 day moving average of $83.50 and a 200 day moving average of $86.80. 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 company has a market cap of $96.28 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.43, a PEG ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.53. Southern has a 52 week low of $65.99 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be given a dividend of $0.72 per share. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.28%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research firms recently weighed in on SO. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Monday, February 3rd. Scotiabank raised their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Morgan Stanley cut their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim downgraded Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets cut their price objective on Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $89.79.

Insider Activity

In related news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 owns 88,393 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares of the company's stock, valued at $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company's stock.

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.