The Southern Company (SO) To Go Ex-Dividend on May 17th

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be given a dividend of 0.72 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70.

Southern has raised its dividend by an average of 3.1% annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Southern has a payout ratio of 64.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Southern to earn $4.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.1%.

Southern Trading Up 0.4 %

NYSE:SO opened at $73.26 on Wednesday. Southern has a 1-year low of $61.56 and a 1-year high of $75.80. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $69.23 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.24. The company has a current ratio of 0.77, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. The firm has a market capitalization of $80.19 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.18, a PEG ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $0.59 by $0.05. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.90 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $0.26 earnings per share. The company’s quarterly revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. On average, equities analysts expect that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current year.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, March 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock valued at $739,587. 0.18% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Wells Fargo & Company dropped their price target on Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 2nd. Scotiabank dropped their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research report on Monday. BMO Capital Markets reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $76.00 price target (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Bank of America raised their price target on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Tuesday. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have issued a buy rating and one has assigned a strong buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average price target of $74.36.

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.