Southern (NYSE:SO) Updates FY 2024 Earnings Guidance

Southern (NYSE:SO) issued an update on its FY 2024 earnings guidance on Friday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 3.950-4.050 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 4.000. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Southern also updated its Q2 2024 guidance to 0.900-0.900 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of several analyst reports. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a sector outperform rating for the company in a research report on Monday, April 22nd. UBS Group downgraded Southern from a buy rating to a neutral rating and cut their price objective for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a research report on Thursday, April 4th. Mizuho boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $73.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a buy rating in a research note on Tuesday, April 2nd. BMO Capital Markets reiterated an outperform rating and issued a $76.00 target price (up previously from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. Finally, Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $65.00 to $66.00 and gave the stock an equal weight rating in a research note on Monday, April 15th. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has an average rating of Moderate Buy and a consensus price target of $74.71.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock traded up $0.52 during mid-day trading on Friday, hitting $75.85. 4,469,453 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,739,155. Southern has a 12-month low of $61.56 and a 12-month high of $75.98. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. The stock has a market capitalization of $83.03 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 20.90, a P/E/G ratio of 4.67 and a beta of 0.48. The stock’s fifty day simple moving average is $70.22 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $69.58.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, May 2nd. The utilities provider reported $1.03 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.90 by $0.13. The company had revenue of $6.65 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.59 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 11.40% and a net margin of 15.79%. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 2.6% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $0.79 earnings per share. On average, analysts forecast that Southern will post 3.99 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 20th will be paid a dividend of $0.72 per share. This is an increase from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.70. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 17th. This represents a $2.88 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.80%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 79.34%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other Southern news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, February 12th. The shares were sold at an average price of $66.94, for a total value of $334,700.00. Following the completion of the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 129,552 shares in the company, valued at $8,672,210.88. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 20,025 shares of company stock worth $1,424,402 in the last quarter. Company insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.