The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Raises Dividend to $0.74 Per Share

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 21st, RTT News reports. Investors of record on Monday, May 19th will be given a dividend of 0.74 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, June 6th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.25%. This is a 2.8% increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72.

Southern has increased its dividend by an average of 3.0% per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 24 years. Southern has a payout ratio of 64.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Southern to earn $4.59 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.96 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 64.5%.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock traded up $0.07 during midday trading on Thursday, hitting $91.20. 664,487 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,489,766. The stock's 50-day moving average price is $89.59 and its 200-day moving average price is $87.33. The stock has a market cap of $100.34 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.70, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.39. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $72.11 and a fifty-two week high of $94.45. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.67.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). The firm had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.23% and a net margin of 16.47%. Research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $9,946,985.28. This represents a 23.16 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders sold a total of 47,855 shares of company stock worth $4,348,784 over the last quarter. 0.18% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently issued reports on SO. Morgan Stanley reiterated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, March 20th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. Barclays raised their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday. UBS Group lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, March 21st. Finally, Guggenheim cut Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Nine investment analysts have rated the stock with a hold rating and five have assigned a buy rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $92.54.

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.