The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Announces $0.72 Quarterly Dividend

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, January 28th,RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, March 6th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.44%.

Southern has raised its dividend payment by an average of 3.0% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Southern has a payout ratio of 62.6% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Southern to earn $4.32 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 66.7%.

Southern Stock Performance

SO traded down $2.83 during midday trading on Tuesday, reaching $83.67. The company had a trading volume of 6,138,477 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,193,106. The business has a 50-day moving average of $84.25 and a two-hundred day moving average of $86.55. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Southern has a 1 year low of $65.80 and a 1 year high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $91.68 billion, a P/E ratio of 19.46, a P/E/G ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The business's quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm earned $1.42 earnings per share. As a group, equities research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly 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 sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on the stock. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an "outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 22nd. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Finally, Scotiabank boosted their price objective on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a report on Thursday, December 12th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $90.14.

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.

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