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

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) declared a quarterly dividend on Tuesday, October 15th, RTT News reports. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 18th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share by the utilities provider on Friday, December 6th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.17%.

Southern has increased its dividend payment by an average of 3.1% annually over the last three years and has increased its dividend annually for the last 24 consecutive years. Southern has a payout ratio of 66.7% 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 $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.0%.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO traded up $0.94 during trading hours on Tuesday, hitting $90.78. The company had a trading volume of 2,007,418 shares, compared to its average volume of 4,443,941. The business has a 50 day moving average of $88.37 and a 200-day moving average of $81.20. The company has a market cap of $99.26 billion, a PE ratio of 21.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.52. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a current ratio of 0.91. Southern has a 1-year low of $64.53 and a 1-year high of $91.86.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $0.91 by $0.19. The company had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.10 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 12.4% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $0.79 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts expect that Southern will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research analysts recently issued reports on the stock. The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Friday, August 2nd. Mizuho downgraded Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “neutral” rating and set a $90.00 target price for the company. in a research note on Monday, September 16th. Jefferies Financial Group began coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, September 20th. They issued a “hold” rating and a $94.00 price target on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Wolfe Research lowered shares of Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.07.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, August 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total value of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. In other news, EVP Sterling A. Jr. Spainhour sold 2,380 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, August 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $88.99, for a total transaction of $211,796.20. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 12,500 shares in the company, valued at $1,112,375. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. Also, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 over the last ninety days. 0.18% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

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.