The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates through Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, Wholesale Gas Services, and Gas Marketing Services segments. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, wholesale gas services, and gas pipeline investments operations. In addition, it owns and/or operates 30 hydroelectric generating stations, 24 fossil fuel generating stations, three nuclear generating stations, 13 combined cycle/cogeneration stations, 45 solar facilities, 15 wind facilities, one fuel cell facility, and four battery storage facility; and constructs, operates, and maintains 76,289 miles of natural gas pipelines and 14 storage facilities with total capacity of 157 Bcf to provide natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company serves approximately 8.7 million electric and gas utility customers. Further, the company offers digital wireless communications and fiber optics services. The Southern Company was incorporated in 1945 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.
Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades
Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. BMO Capital Markets lowered their target price on Southern from $81.00 to $70.00 and set a "market perform" rating on the stock in a research report on Wednesday, June 22nd. Credit Suisse Group started coverage on Southern in a report on Monday, April 25th. They set an "underperform" rating and a $77.00 price target on the stock. Seaport Res Ptn restated a "buy" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, June 30th. UBS Group raised Southern from a "neutral" rating to a "buy" rating and boosted their price target for the stock from $76.00 to $87.00 in a research report on Thursday, August 4th. Finally, Morgan Stanley decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an "underweight" rating for the company in a research report on Monday, May 23rd. Two equities research analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $75.70.
Southern Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.44 during trading on Friday, reaching $80.16. The company had a trading volume of 3,477,934 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,365,270. The stock has a market capitalization of $85.21 billion, a PE ratio of 28.23, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 5.49 and a beta of 0.50. Southern has a twelve month low of $60.99 and a twelve month high of $80.57. The company has a current ratio of 0.85, a quick ratio of 0.67 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55. The stock has a 50-day moving average price of $72.78 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $71.87.
Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Rating) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts' consensus estimates of $0.84 by $0.23. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 12.13%. The firm had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.31 billion. During the same quarter last year, the firm earned $0.84 earnings per share. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 38.6% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, sell-side analysts predict that Southern will post 3.61 earnings per share for the current year.
Southern Announces Dividend
The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 6th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 15th will be paid a dividend of $0.68 per share. The ex-dividend date is Friday, August 12th. This represents a $2.72 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.39%. Southern's payout ratio is 95.77%.
Insider Buying and Selling
In other news, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $1,900,000.00. Following the sale, the executive vice president now owns 136,987 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,411,012. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. In other news, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of the stock in a transaction on Friday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total transaction of $1,900,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 136,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,411,012. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,500 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, July 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total transaction of $1,057,340.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 115,284 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,406,509.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders have sold a total of 54,000 shares of company stock worth $4,002,500 over the last quarter. 0.37% of the stock is owned by company insiders.
