The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) Raises Dividend to $0.72 Per Share

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, RTT News reports. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of 0.72 per share by the utilities provider on Thursday, June 6th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.93%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, May 17th. This is an increase 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 raised its dividend every year for the last 23 years. Southern has a dividend payout ratio of 64.8% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities 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 Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $73.26 on Wednesday. The company has a market cap of $80.19 billion, a PE ratio of 20.18, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 4.56 and a beta of 0.49. Southern has a 52 week low of $61.56 and a 52 week high of $75.80. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $69.23 and a 200-day moving average price of $69.24. 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 (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 EPS for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The company had revenue of $6.05 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.90 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. Southern’s revenue was down 14.2% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. Equities analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages recently commented on SO. Scotiabank decreased their price target on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a “sector outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Monday. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Monday, April 15th. Royal Bank of Canada reaffirmed an “outperform” rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Bank of America raised their price target on Southern from $70.00 to $73.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Tuesday. Finally, Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a report on Tuesday, April 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have given a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Moderate Buy” and a consensus target price of $74.36.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

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.