Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.74

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) declared a quarterly dividend on Wednesday, January 28th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 17th will be given a dividend of 0.74 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, March 6th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 17th.

Southern has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 25 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 $0.19 during trading on Thursday, hitting $88.52. The stock had a trading volume of 2,061,019 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,107,190. Southern has a twelve month low of $82.78 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $87.51 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.67. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.75 and a quick ratio of 0.59. The stock has a market capitalization of $97.47 billion, a P/E ratio of 21.90, a PEG ratio of 2.69 and a beta of 0.46.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Wednesday, October 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a return on equity of 12.52% and a net margin of 15.42%.The business had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

About Southern

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.