Southern (SO) Stock Forecast, Price & News

15 Wall Street equities research analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Southern in the last twelve months. There are currently 5 sell ratings, 2 hold ratings and 8 buy ratings for the stock. The consensus among Wall Street equities research 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 Wall Street analysts have issued twelve-month price targets for Southern's shares. Their SO share price forecasts range from $59.00 to $87.00. On average, they expect the company's stock price to reach $73.07 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 4.6% from the stock's current price.
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Southern's stock was trading at $71.41 at the start of the year. Since then, SO stock has decreased by 2.2% and is now trading at $69.83.
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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) announced its earnings results on Thursday, April, 27th. The utilities provider reported $0.79 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.71 by $0.08. The utilities provider had revenue of $6.48 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.14 billion. Southern had a trailing twelve-month return on equity of 10.78% and a net margin of 11.53%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 2.5% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $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 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.01%. The ex-dividend date is Friday, May 12th. This is a positive change 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 Index Fund (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 4.03%. 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 updated its second quarter 2023 earnings guidance on Friday, April, 28th. The company provided earnings per share (EPS) guidance of $0.75-$0.75 for the period, compared to the consensus 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 many different retail and institutional investors. Top institutional investors 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 $69.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) has a market capitalization of $76.14 billion and generates $29.28 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.