Southern (SO) Stock Price, News & Analysis

Company Overview

Southern Company (NYSE:SO) is an energy holding company that provides electricity and natural gas services through a group of regulated utility subsidiaries. Its electric utilities generate, transmit and distribute power to residential, commercial and industrial customers, while its gas businesses distribute natural gas and provide related energy services.

The company’s principal electric subsidiaries include Alabama Power, Georgia Power and Mississippi Power. Southern Company also operates Southern Nuclear, which manages the company’s nuclear generation interests, including the Vogtle nuclear expansion in Georgia. Its natural gas operations include businesses such as Atlanta Gas Light, Nicor Gas and Virginia Natural Gas, serving customers in Georgia, Illinois and Virginia.

Based in Atlanta, Southern Company serves communities primarily across the southeastern and southern United States. The company has developed its business through decades of utility operations and infrastructure investment and is led by chairman, president and chief executive officer Chris Womack.

Key Stats

• Today's Range: $84.97 to $85.94
• 50-Day Range: $85.39 to $97.29
• 52-Week Range: $83.80 to $100.83
• Volume: 1.13 million shs
• Average Volume: 5.78 million shs
• Market Capitalization: $98.30 billion
• P/E Ratio: 20.48
• Dividend Yield: 3.56%
• Price Target: $99.85
• Consensus Rating: Hold

Southern Stock Analysis - MarketRank™

Southern scored higher than 92% of companies evaluated by MarketBeat, and ranked 31st out of 96 stocks in the utilities sector. Scores are calculated by averaging available category scores, with extra weight given to analysis and valuation.

Analyst's Opinion

• Score: 3.5 / 5
• Analyst Rating: Hold

Consensus Rating

Southern has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 2.25, and is based on no strong buy ratings, 7 buy ratings, 11 hold ratings, and 2 sell ratings.

Upside Potential

Southern has a consensus price target of $99.85, representing about 16.9% upside from its current price of $85.39.

Amount of Analyst Coverage

Southern has been the subject of 6 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

Earnings and Valuation

• Score: 2.5 / 5
• Proj. Earnings Growth: 7.19%

Earnings Growth

Earnings for Southern are expected to grow by 7.19% in the coming year, from $4.59 to $4.92 per share.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market

The P/E ratio of Southern is 20.48, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 39.05.

Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector

The P/E ratio of Southern is 20.48, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 24.12.

Price to Earnings Growth Ratio

Southern has a PEG Ratio of 2.28. PEG Ratios above 1 indicate that a company could be overvalued.

Price to Book Value per Share Ratio

Southern has a P/B Ratio of 2.42. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Short Interest

• Score: 2.0 / 5
• Short Interest Level: Bearish

Percentage of Shares Shorted

3.06% of the float of Southern has been sold short.

Short Interest Ratio / Days to Cover

Southern has a short interest ratio ("days to cover") of 6.07.

Change versus previous month

Short interest in Southern has recently increased by 8.00%, indicating that investor sentiment is decreasing significantly.

Dividend

• Score: 5.0 / 5
• Dividend Strength: Strong

Dividend Leadership

Southern is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 3.55%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.

Dividend Growth

Southern has been increasing its dividend for 25 years.

Dividend Coverage

The dividend payout ratio of Southern is 72.90%. This payout ratio is at a healthy, sustainable level, below 75%.

Dividend Sustainability

Based on earnings estimates, Southern will have a dividend payout ratio of 61.79% next year. This indicates that Southern will be able to sustain or increase its dividend.

News and Social Media

• Score: 2.6 / 5
• News Sentiment: 0.19

News Sentiment

Southern has a news sentiment score of 0.19. This score is calculated as an average of sentiment of articles about the company over the last seven days and ranges from 2 (good news) to -2 (bad news). This is a lower news sentiment than the 0.63 average news sentiment score of Utilities companies.

News Coverage This Week

MarketBeat has tracked 11 news articles for Southern this week, compared to 6 articles on an average week.

Search Interest

Only 27 people have searched for SO on MarketBeat in the last 30 days. This is a decrease of -4% compared to the previous 30 days.

MarketBeat Follows

21 people have added Southern to their MarketBeat watchlist in the last 30 days. This is an increase of 133% compared to the previous 30 days.

Company Ownership

• Score: 0.7 / 5
• Insider Trading: N/A

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling

In the past three months, Southern insiders have not sold or bought any company stock.

Percentage Held by Insiders

0.16% of the stock of Southern is held by insiders.

Percentage Held by Institutions

64.10% of the stock of Southern is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

Company Calendar

• Last Earnings: 7/29/2026
• Record date for 9/8 Dividend: 8/17/2026
• Ex-Dividend for 9/8 Dividend: 8/17/2026
• Dividend Payable: 9/08/2026
• Today: 9/22/2026
• Next Earnings (Estimated): 10/29/2026
• Fiscal Year End: 12/31/2026

Industry, Sector and Symbol

• Stock Exchange: NYSE
• Sector: Utilities
• Industry: Electric Utilities
• Sub-Industry: Electric Utilities
• Current Symbol: NYSE:SO
• CIK: 92122
• Web: www.southerncompany.com
• Phone: (404) 506-5000
• Fax: 404-506-0344
• Employees: 29,800
• Year Founded: 1945

Price Target and Rating

• Average Price Target for Southern: $99.85
• High Price Target: $112.00
• Low Price Target: $79.00
• Potential Upside/Downside: +16.7%
• Consensus Rating: Hold
• Rating Score (0-4): 2.25
• Research Coverage: 20 Analysts

Profitability

• EPS (Trailing Twelve Months): $4.17
• Trailing P/E Ratio: 20.52
• Forward P/E Ratio: 18.64
• P/E Growth: 2.28
• Net Income: $4.34 billion
• Net Margins: 15.43%
• Pretax Margin: 17.39%
• Return on Equity: 12.93%
• Return on Assets: 3.28%

Debt

• Debt-to-Equity Ratio: 1.62
• Current Ratio: 0.79
• Quick Ratio: 0.59

Sales & Book Value

• Annual Sales: $30.18 billion
• Price / Sales: 3.26
• Cash Flow: $9.79 per share
• Price / Cash Flow: 8.74
• Book Value: $35.30 per share
• Price / Book: 2.42

Miscellaneous

• Outstanding Shares: 1,150,363,000
• Free Float: 1,148,522,000
• Market Cap: $98.44 billion
• Optionable: Optionable
• Beta: 0.33