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

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) announced 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. Equities analysts expect Southern to earn $4.30 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $2.88 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 67.0%.

Southern Stock Up 1.0 %

NYSE:SO opened at $90.74 on Wednesday. The company has a current ratio of 0.91, a quick ratio of 0.66 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. Southern has a twelve month low of $64.53 and a twelve month high of $91.86. The company has a market cap of $99.22 billion, a PE ratio of 21.60, a P/E/G ratio of 3.16 and a beta of 0.52. The company’s 50 day moving average is $88.46 and its two-hundred day moving average is $81.33.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, August 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.10 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.91 by $0.19. Southern had a net margin of 17.67% and a return on equity of 12.88%. The firm had revenue of $6.46 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.10 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $0.79 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 12.4% compared to the same quarter last year. Analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.02 EPS for the current year.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of research analysts have recently weighed in on SO shares. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday. UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, September 20th. Wells Fargo & Company raised their price target on shares of Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Friday, August 2nd. Morgan Stanley upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, September 25th. Finally, The Goldman Sachs Group increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock a “buy” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have assigned a hold rating and seven have assigned a buy rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.07.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, October 4th. The stock was sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at approximately $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, September 6th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.54, for a total transaction of $587,830.10. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at $3,981,575.18. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction dated Friday, October 4th. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.64, for a total transaction of $2,689,200.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares in the company, valued at $13,005,688.32. This represents a 0.00 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold 38,945 shares of company stock worth $3,488,826 in the last ninety days. Company 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.