Southern Company (The) (SO) to Issue Quarterly Dividend of $0.76 on June 8th

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) declared a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 20th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be given a dividend of 0.76 per share by the utilities provider on Monday, June 8th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, May 18th. This is a 2.7% increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74.

Southern has increased its dividend payment by an average of 0.0%annually over the last three years and has raised its dividend annually for the last 25 consecutive years. Southern has a payout ratio of 66.5% indicating that its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities research analysts expect Southern to earn $4.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.8%.

Southern Stock Performance

SO opened at $92.56 on Friday. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.35 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.55, a PEG ratio of 2.83 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.34 and a 200 day moving average of $91.80. Southern has a fifty-two week low of $83.80 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a current ratio of 0.65.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.07 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.57 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on SO shares. Seaport Research Partners cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Monday, April 20th. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an “underweight” rating to a “sector weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, March 4th. Jefferies Financial Group reaffirmed a “hold” rating and set a $102.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, February 23rd. Scotiabank increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $101.00 to $103.00 and gave the company a “sector perform” rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “underweight” rating for the company in a research note on Tuesday, April 21st. Seven investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.85.

Southern Company Profile

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.