Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Announces Quarterly Dividend of $0.76

Key Points

• Southern Company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.76 per share, payable on September 8 to shareholders of record as of August 17. The dividend implies an annualized yield of about 3.2%.
• The company has raised its dividend every year for 25 straight years, and its payout appears covered by earnings. Southern’s payout ratio is 66.5%, with analysts expecting continued coverage next year.
• Southern also reported solid recent results, including Q1 earnings of $1.32 per share, beating estimates, and revenue of $8.40 billion that topped forecasts. Shares were trading slightly lower on the day despite the news.

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, July 20th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 17th will be paid a dividend of 0.76 per share by the utilities provider on Tuesday, September 8th. This represents a c) annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 17th.

Southern has raised its dividend by an average of 0.0%per year over the last three years and has raised its dividend every year for the last 25 years. Southern has a payout ratio of 66.5% meaning its dividend is sufficiently covered by earnings. Equities analysts expect Southern to earn $4.92 per share next year, which means the company should continue to be able to cover its $3.04 annual dividend with an expected future payout ratio of 61.8%.

Southern Trading Down 0.8%

NYSE:SO opened at $94.53 on Tuesday. Southern has a 12-month low of $83.80 and a 12-month high of $100.83. The firm has a market cap of $106.57 billion, a PE ratio of 24.05, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 2.88 and a beta of 0.34. The company has a current ratio of 0.65, a quick ratio of 0.45 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68. The stock has a fifty day moving average price of $94.22 and a 200 day moving average price of $93.49.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.Southern's revenue was up 8.0% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $1.23 EPS. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

About Southern

Southern Company NYSE: SO is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern's principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.

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