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

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.44%.

Southern has increased its dividend by an average of 3.0% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 23 consecutive years. Southern has a payout ratio of 62.6% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research 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 on Tuesday, hitting $83.67. 6,138,477 shares of the company traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,193,106. The company has a 50 day moving average of $84.25 and a 200-day moving average of $86.55. Southern has a 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The stock has a market capitalization of $91.68 billion, a PE ratio of 19.46, a PEG ratio of 2.81 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.33 by $0.10. Southern had a return on equity of 12.78% and a net margin of 17.87%. The company had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm posted $1.42 EPS. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 4.2% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.04 earnings per share for the current year.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of a number of research analyst reports. Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Tuesday, October 15th. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on 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 decreased their price target on Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective 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. Finally, Guggenheim downgraded shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, January 23rd. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $90.14.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares in the company, valued at $7,592,958.70. This trade represents a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.