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

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 3.28%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 18th.

Southern has raised 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 24 years. Southern has a payout ratio of 66.7% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Analysts expect Southern to earn $4.31 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 66.8%.

Southern Stock Up 1.3 %

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $87.93 on Friday. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $89.85 and a 200 day moving average price of $84.30. 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 12-month low of $65.80 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The company has a market cap of $96.34 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.45, a P/E/G ratio of 3.20 and a beta of 0.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, October 31st. The utilities provider reported $1.43 EPS for the quarter, topping analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.33 by $0.10. The business had revenue of $7.27 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $7.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 4.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.42 earnings per share. Research analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.04 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, EVP Bryan D. Anderson sold 6,565 shares of Southern 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 sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 44,467 shares in the company, valued at approximately $3,981,575.18. The trade was a 12.86 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Also, CEO James Y. Kerr II sold 30,000 shares of the stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 145,088 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $13,005,688.32. This trade represents a 17.13 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several brokerages have weighed in on SO. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $71.00 to $83.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Tuesday, October 15th. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Southern from $77.00 to $89.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their target price on Southern from $80.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Monday, August 12th. Wolfe Research cut Southern from an “outperform” rating to a “peer perform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 2nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $82.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, September 25th. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, eight have issued a hold rating and seven have issued a buy rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $89.27.

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.