PPL (PPL) Competitors

Southern (NYSE:SO) and PPL (NYSE:PPL) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their dividends, community ranking, valuation, analyst recommendations, media sentiment, risk, profitability, institutional ownership and earnings.

Is SO or PPL a better dividend stock?

Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. PPL pays an annual dividend of $1.09 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southern pays out 73.8% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. PPL pays out 90.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. Southern has increased its dividend for 24 consecutive years. Southern is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and longer track record of dividend growth.

Does the media refer more to SO or PPL?

In the previous week, Southern had 5 more articles in the media than PPL. MarketBeat recorded 24 mentions for Southern and 19 mentions for PPL. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.38 beat PPL's score of 0.64 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the media.

Company	Very Positive	Positive	Neutral	Negative	Very Negative	Overall Sentiment
Southern	18 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	5 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive
PPL	5 Very Positive mention(s)	1 Positive mention(s)	8 Neutral mention(s)	0 Negative mention(s)	0 Very Negative mention(s)	Positive

Do institutionals and insiders believe in SO or PPL?

64.1% of Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 77.0% of PPL shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.2% of Southern shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of PPL shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock will outperform the market over the long term.

Do analysts rate SO or PPL?

Southern currently has a consensus price target of $92.54, indicating a potential upside of 0.62%. PPL has a consensus price target of $35.70, indicating a potential downside of 2.35%. Given Southern's higher probable upside, equities analysts clearly believe Southern is more favorable than PPL.

Company	Sell Ratings	Hold Ratings	Buy Ratings	Strong Buy Ratings	Rating Score
Southern	0 Sell rating(s)	9 Hold rating(s)	5 Buy rating(s)	0 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.36
PPL	0 Sell rating(s)	3 Hold rating(s)	6 Buy rating(s)	1 Strong Buy rating(s)	2.80

Is SO or PPL more profitable?

Southern has a net margin of 16.47% compared to PPL's net margin of 10.49%. Southern's return on equity of 12.23% beat PPL's return on equity.

Company	Net Margins	Return on Equity	Return on Assets
Southern	16.47%	12.23%	3.11%
PPL	10.49%	8.88%	3.11%

Which has more risk and volatility, SO or PPL?

Southern has a beta of 0.39, meaning that its share price is 61% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, PPL has a beta of 0.65, meaning that its share price is 35% less volatile than the S&P 500.

Which has stronger valuation and earnings, SO or PPL?

Southern has higher revenue and earnings than PPL. Southern is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than PPL, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.

Company	Gross Revenue	Price/Sales Ratio	Net Income	Earnings Per Share	Price/Earnings Ratio
Southern	$26.72B	3.79	$3.98B	$4.01	22.94
PPL	$8.46B	3.19	$888M	$1.21	30.21

Does the MarketBeat Community prefer SO or PPL?

PPL received 54 more outperform votes than Southern when rated by MarketBeat users. Likewise, 60.76% of users gave PPL an outperform vote while only 49.45% of users gave Southern an outperform vote.

Company	Underperform	Outperform
Southern	Outperform Votes 536 49.45%	Underperform Votes 548 50.55%
PPL	Outperform Votes 590 60.76%	Underperform Votes 381 39.24%

Summary

Southern beats PPL on 12 of the 21 factors compared between the two stocks.