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

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 3.95%. This is a positive change from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70.

Southern has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.1% per year over the last three years and has increased its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Southern has a dividend payout ratio of 64.8% indicating that 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 Stock Up 1.2 %

Southern stock opened at $72.99 on Tuesday. The stock has a market cap of $79.90 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.11, a P/E/G ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.49. The company has a quick ratio of 0.56, a current ratio of 0.77 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62. Southern has a twelve month low of $61.56 and a twelve month high of $75.80. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $69.11 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $69.18.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly 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. The firm had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The business’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the firm earned $0.26 EPS. As a group, analysts expect that Southern will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling 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 shares were sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total value of $60,286.94. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. In other news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total transaction of $344,600.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Tuesday, February 6th. The stock was sold at an average price of $67.06, for a total transaction of $60,286.94. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587 over the last quarter. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and set a $80.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Wells Fargo & Company lowered their target price on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, February 16th. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating and lowered their target price for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Finally, Scotiabank decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Monday. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating, six have given a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Moderate Buy” and an average target price of $74.00.

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.