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

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 22nd, RTT News reports. Investors 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 yield of 3.95%. This is a positive change from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.70.

Southern has raised its dividend by an average of 3.1% annually 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% indicating that 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 $2.80 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 65.1%.

Southern Trading Up 1.2 %

SO stock traded up $0.84 during mid-day trading on Monday, reaching $72.99. 5,387,552 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 4,672,979. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.62, a quick ratio of 0.56 and a current ratio of 0.77. Southern has a one year low of $61.56 and a one year high of $75.80. The stock has a market capitalization of $79.90 billion, a PE ratio of 20.11, a PEG ratio of 4.51 and a beta of 0.49. The business has a 50-day moving average price of $69.11 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $69.18.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 15th. The utilities provider reported $0.64 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.59 by $0.05. The business had revenue of $6.05 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.90 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.79% and a return on equity of 11.40%. The business's revenue was down 14.2% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $0.26 earnings per share. Equities research analysts expect that Southern will post 4 EPS for the current year.

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 22,502 shares in the company, valued at $1,508,984.12. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. In other Southern news, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 5,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $68.92, for a total value of $344,600.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 126,528 shares in the company, valued at $8,720,309.76. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Also, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 899 shares of Southern 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 completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 22,502 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $1,508,984.12. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last quarter, insiders have sold 10,899 shares of company stock worth $739,587. 0.18% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have recently commented on the stock. BMO Capital Markets restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $76.00 price target (up from $72.00) on shares of Southern in a report on Monday, April 1st. UBS Group cut shares of Southern from a "buy" rating to a "neutral" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $78.00 to $76.00 in a report on Thursday, April 4th. Royal Bank of Canada restated an "outperform" rating and issued a $80.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, February 21st. Scotiabank lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $80.00 to $77.00 and set a "sector outperform" rating for the company in a research note on Monday. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $75.00 to $72.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Friday, February 16th. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating, six have assigned a buy rating and one has issued a strong buy rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of "Moderate Buy" and a consensus price target of $74.00.

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.