Southern (SO) Stock Forecast, Price & News

15 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Southern in the last year. There are currently 5 sell ratings, 2 hold ratings and 8 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street analysts is that investors should "hold" SO shares. A hold rating indicates that analysts believe investors should maintain any existing positions they have in SO, but not buy additional shares or sell existing shares.
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15 analysts have issued 12 month price objectives for Southern's shares. Their SO share price forecasts range from $59.00 to $87.00. On average, they anticipate the company's share price to reach $73.07 in the next year. This suggests a possible upside of 5.2% from the stock's current price.
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Southern's stock was trading at $71.41 at the beginning of the year. Since then, SO stock has decreased by 2.7% and is now trading at $69.45.
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The company is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, July 27th 2023.
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The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, April, 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 earnings per share for the quarter, topping analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.08. The utilities provider earned $6.48 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.14 billion. Southern had a net margin of 11.53% and a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 10.78%. Southern's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company earned $0.97 earnings per share.
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Southern announced a quarterly dividend on Monday, April 17th. Investors of record on Monday, May 15th will be given a dividend of $0.70 per share on Tuesday, June 6th. This represents a $2.80 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 4.03%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This is a boost from the stock's previous quarterly dividend of $0.68.
Read our dividend analysis for SO.

ETFs with the largest weight of Southern (NYSE:SO) stock in their portfolio include Timothy Plan Market Neutral ETF (TPMN), Utilities Select Sector SPDR Fund (XLU), Fidelity MSCI Utilities Index ETF (FUTY), Vanguard Utilities ETF (VPU), iShares U.S. Utilities ETF (IDU), ProShares Ultra Utilities (UPW), iShares Global Utilities ETF (JXI) and Direxion Daily Utilities Bull 3X Shares (UTSL).

Southern (NYSE:SO) pays an annual dividend of $2.80 per share and currently has a dividend yield of 4.01%. SO has a dividend yield higher than 75% of all dividend-paying stocks, making it a leading dividend payer. The company has been increasing its dividend for 22 consecutive years, indicating the company has a strong committment to maintain and grow its dividend. The dividend payout ratio is 90.32%. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable. Based on earnings estimates, SO will have a dividend payout ratio of 69.65% next year. This indicates that the company will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.
Read our dividend analysis for SO.

Southern issued an update on its second quarter 2023 earnings guidance on Friday, April, 28th. The company provided EPS guidance of $0.75-$0.75 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of $0.95. The company issued revenue guidance of -.

235 employees have rated Southern Chief Executive Officer Thomas A. Fanning on Glassdoor.com. Thomas A. Fanning has an approval rating of 85% among the company's employees.

Based on aggregate information from My MarketBeat watchlists, some companies that other Southern investors own include AT&T (T), Verizon Communications (VZ), AbbVie (ABBV), Johnson & Johnson (JNJ), Duke Energy (DUK), Pfizer (PFE), Exxon Mobil (XOM), Coca-Cola (KO), Altria Group (MO) and Chevron (CVX).

Southern trades on the New York Stock Exchange (NYSE) under the ticker symbol "SO."

Southern's stock is owned by a number of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional shareholders include BlackRock Inc. (7.24%), State Street Corp (5.81%), Price T Rowe Associates Inc. MD (5.64%), FMR LLC (3.18%), Geode Capital Management LLC (1.78%) and Franklin Resources Inc. (1.41%). Insiders that own company stock include Ann P Daiss, Bryan D Anderson, Bryan D Anderson, Christopher C Womack, Christopher C Womack, Christopher Cummiskey, Daniel S Tucker, David J Grain, James Y Kerr II, Kimberly S Greene, Martin Bernard Davis, Stephen E Kuczynski, Stephen E Kuczynski and Thomas A Fanning.
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Shares of SO stock can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include WeBull, Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.
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One share of SO stock can currently be purchased for approximately $69.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) has a market capitalization of $75.73 billion and generates $29.11 billion in revenue each year. The utilities provider earns $3.54 billion in net income (profit) each year or $3.10 on an earnings per share basis.

The company employs 27,700 workers across the globe.

Southern's mailing address is 30 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard N.W., Atlanta GA, 30308. The official website for the company is www.southerncompany.com. The utilities provider can be reached via phone at (404) 506-5000, via email at apabramo@southernco.com, or via fax at 404-506-0344.