NYSE:SOSouthern Stock Price, Forecast & News

$60.33

+2.15 (+3.70 %)

(As of 04/10/2020 06:00 AM ET)

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Today's Range

$58.81

Now: $60.33▼

$61.86

50-Day Range

$43.23

MA: $58.27▼

$69.81

52-Week Range

$41.96

Now: $60.33▼

$71.10

Volume7.53 million shs

Average Volume6.31 million shs

Market Capitalization$63.60 billion

P/E Ratio13.26

Dividend Yield4.26%

Beta0.46

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. It operates in four segments: Gas Distribution Operations, Gas Pipeline Investments, Wholesale Gas Services, and Gas Marketing Services. The company also constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy facilities 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. It owns and/or operates 33 hydroelectric generating stations, 26 fossil fuel generating stations, 3 nuclear generating stations, 13 combined cycle/cogeneration stations, 40 solar facilities, 9 wind facilities, and 1 biomass facility; and constructs, operates, and maintains 75,200 miles of natural gas pipelines and 14 storage facilities with total capacity of 158 Bcf to provide natural gas to residential, commercial, and industrial customers. The company serves approximately 9 million electric and gas utility customers. It also provides products and services in the areas of distributed generation infrastructure, energy efficiency, and utility infrastructure. In addition, the company offers digital wireless communications services with various communication options, including push to talk, cellular service, text messaging, wireless Internet access, and wireless data. The Southern Company was founded in 1945 and is headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia.

Beat the Market (BTM) Rank^™

1.9 Analyst's Opinion

Consensus Rating
Southern has received a consensus rating of Hold. The company's average rating score is 1.86, and is based on 1 buy rating, 10 hold ratings, and 3 sell ratings.
Price Target Upside/Downside
According to analysts' consensus price target of $62.21, Southern has a potential upside of 3.1% from its current price of $60.33.
Amount of Analyst Coverage
Southern has been the subject of 7 research reports in the past 90 days, demonstrating strong analyst interest in this stock.

1.8 Community Rank

Outperform Votes
Southern has received 473 “outperform” votes. (Add your “outperform” vote.)
Underperform Votes
Southern has received 833 “underperform” votes. (Add your “underperform” vote.)
Community Sentiment
Southern has received 63.78% “underperform” votes from our community.

MarketBeat's community ratings are surveys of what our community members think about Southern and other stocks. Vote “Outperform” if you believe SO will outperform the S&P 500 over the long term. Vote “Underperform” if you believe SO will underperform the S&P 500 over the long term. You may vote once every thirty days.

3.3 Dividend Strength

Dividend Leadership
Southern is a leading dividend payer. It pays a dividend yield of 4.26%, putting its dividend yield in the top 25% of dividend-paying stocks.
Dividend Growth
Southern has been increasing its dividend for 18 years.
Dividend Coverage
The dividend payout ratio of Southern is 79.74 %. Payout ratios above 75% are not desirable because they may not be sustainable.
Dividend Sustainability
Based on EPS estimates, Southern will have a dividend payout ratio of 75.15 % in the coming year. This indicates that Southern may not be able to sustain their current dividend.

1.0 Company Ownership

Insider Buying vs. Insider Selling
In the past three months, Southern insiders have sold more of their company's stock than they have bought. Specifically, they have bought $0.00 in company stock and sold $8,283,883.00 in company stock.
Percentage Held by Insiders
Only 0.88% of the stock of Southern is held by insiders.
Percentage Held by Institutions
59.95% of the stock of Southern is held by institutions. High institutional ownership can be a signal of strong market trust in this company.

1.3 Earnings and Valuation

Earnings Growth
Earnings for Southern are expected to grow by 4.10% in the coming year, from $3.17 to $3.30 per share.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. the Market
The P/E ratio of Southern is 13.26, which means that it is trading at a more expensive P/E ratio than the market average P/E ratio of about 11.63.
Price to Earnings Ratio vs. Sector
The P/E ratio of Southern is 13.26, which means that it is trading at a less expensive P/E ratio than the Utilities sector average P/E ratio of about 28.72.
Price to Earnings Growth Ratio
Southern has a PEG Ratio of 4.34. 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 1.99. P/B Ratios below 3 indicates that a company is reasonably valued with respect to its assets and liabilities.

Overall Beat the Market Rank^™

1.86 out of 5 stars

Industry, Sector and Symbol

Stock Exchange NYSE

Industry Electric services

Sub-IndustryElectric Utilities

SectorUtilities

Current SymbolNYSE:SO

Previous Symbol

CUSIP84258710

CIK92122

Webhttp://www.southerncompany.com/

Phone404-506-5000

Debt

Debt-to-Equity Ratio1.37

Current Ratio0.78

Quick Ratio0.63

Price-To-Earnings

Trailing P/E Ratio13.26

Forward P/E Ratio19.03

P/E Growth4.34

Sales & Book Value

Annual Sales$21.42 billion

Price / Sales2.97

Cash Flow$6.87 per share

Price / Cash Flow8.78

Book Value$30.28 per share

Price / Book1.99

Profitability

EPS (Most Recent Fiscal Year)$3.11

Net Income$4.75 billion

Net Margins22.20%

Return on Equity10.38%

Return on Assets2.80%

Miscellaneous

Employees27,943

Outstanding Shares1,054,228,000

Market Cap$63.60 billion

Next Earnings Date4/30/2020 (Confirmed)

OptionableOptionable

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Southern (NYSE:SO) Frequently Asked Questions

How has Southern's stock been impacted by COVID-19 (Coronavirus)?

Southern's stock was trading at $58.18 on March 11th, 2020 when Coronavirus (COVID-19) reached pandemic status according to the World Health Organization (WHO). Since then, SO stock has increased by 3.7% and is now trading at $60.33. View which stocks have been most impacted by Coronavirus.

Do Wall Street analysts recommend investors buy shares of Southern?

14 Wall Street analysts have issued "buy," "hold," and "sell" ratings for Southern in the last year. There are currently 3 sell ratings, 10 hold ratings and 1 buy rating for the stock, resulting in a consensus recommendation of "Hold." View analyst ratings for Southern.

When is Southern's next earnings date?

Southern is scheduled to release its next quarterly earnings announcement on Thursday, April 30th 2020. View our earnings forecast for Southern.

How can I listen to Southern's earnings call?

Southern will be holding an earnings conference call on Thursday, April 30th at 12:00 AM Eastern. Interested parties can register for or listen to the call using this link or dial in at Not Available.

How were Southern's earnings last quarter?

Southern Co (NYSE:SO) posted its earnings results on Thursday, February, 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.27 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, meeting the consensus estimate of $0.27. The utilities provider had revenue of $4.91 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $5.27 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 10.38% and a net margin of 22.20%. The company's revenue for the quarter was down 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $0.25 earnings per share. View Southern's earnings history.

How often does Southern pay dividends? What is the dividend yield for Southern?

Southern declared a quarterly dividend on Friday, January 17th. Investors of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be paid a dividend of $0.62 per share on Friday, March 6th. This represents a $2.48 annualized dividend and a yield of 4.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, February 14th. View Southern's dividend history.

What guidance has Southern issued on next quarter's earnings?

Southern updated its FY 2020 After-Hours earnings guidance on Thursday, February, 20th. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 3.10-3.22 for the period, compared to the Thomson Reuters consensus EPS estimate of $3.18.

What price target have analysts set for SO?

14 brokers have issued 1 year target prices for Southern's stock. Their forecasts range from $52.00 to $73.00. On average, they expect Southern's share price to reach $62.21 in the next twelve months. This suggests a possible upside of 3.1% from the stock's current price. View analysts' price targets for Southern.

Has Southern been receiving favorable news coverage?

Press coverage about SO stock has been trending very negative recently, InfoTrie reports. InfoTrie identifies positive and negative media coverage by monitoring more than six thousand news and blog sources in real time. The firm ranks coverage of companies on a scale of negative five to five, with scores nearest to five being the most favorable. Southern earned a news sentiment score of -3.3 on InfoTrie's scale. They also gave news articles about the utilities provider a news buzz of 0.0 out of 10, indicating that recent media coverage is extremely unlikely to have an effect on the stock's share price in the next few days. View the latest news aboutSouthern.

Who are some of Southern's key competitors?

Some companies that are related to Southern include NextEra Energy (NEE), Duke Energy (DUK), American Electric Power (AEP), Exelon (EXC), Xcel Energy (XEL), Eversource Energy (ES), FirstEnergy (FE), Edison International (EIX), Entergy (ETR), PPL (PPL), Pinnacle West Capital (PNW), OGE Energy (OGE), IDACORP (IDA), Hawaiian Electric Industries (HE) and Portland General Electric (POR).

What other stocks do shareholders of Southern own?

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

Who are Southern's key executives?

Southern's management team includes the following people:

Mr. Thomas A. Fanning, Chairman, Pres & CEO (Age 62)
Mr. Andrew William Evans, Exec. VP & CFO (Age 52)
Mr. William Paul Bowers, Exec. VP (Age 63)
Mr. Mark A. Crosswhite, Exec. VP (Age 57)
Mr. Stephen E. Kuczynski, Chairman of Southern Nuclear Operating Co., CEO & Pres of Southern Nuclear Operating Co. (Age 57)

What is Southern's stock symbol?

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

Who are Southern's major shareholders?

Southern's stock is owned by a number of institutional and retail investors. Top institutional investors include Confluence Investment Management LLC (0.20%), State of Alaska Department of Revenue (0.05%), Hexavest Inc. (0.04%), Verity & Verity LLC (0.02%), First PREMIER Bank (0.01%) and IFM Investors Pty Ltd (0.01%). Company insiders that own Southern stock include Ann P Daiss, Anthony F Earley Jr, Anthony L Wilson, Christopher C Womack, Henry A Clark III, James Y Kerr II, Kimberly S Greene, Mark A Crosswhite, Mark Lantrip, Stan W Connally, Stephen E Kuczynski, Thomas A Fanning and William P Bowers. View institutional ownership trends for Southern.

Which institutional investors are selling Southern stock?

SO stock was sold by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Confluence Investment Management LLC, Verity & Verity LLC, Fulton Bank N.A., Centre Asset Management LLC, IFM Investors Pty Ltd, Park National Corp OH, RDA Financial Network, and Global Trust Asset Management LLC. Company insiders that have sold Southern company stock in the last year include Ann P Daiss, Anthony L Wilson, Christopher C Womack, James Y Kerr II, Mark A Crosswhite, Stan W Connally, Stephen E Kuczynski, Thomas A Fanning, and William P Bowers. View insider buying and selling activity for Southern.

Which institutional investors are buying Southern stock?

SO stock was purchased by a variety of institutional investors in the last quarter, including Hexavest Inc., State of Alaska Department of Revenue, M&G Investment Management Ltd., IBM Retirement Fund, Cullinan Associates Inc., PrairieView Partners LLC, Efficient Wealth Management LLC, and Mitchell Mcleod Pugh & Williams Inc.. Company insiders that have bought Southern stock in the last two years include Anthony F Earley Jr, and Henry A Clark III. View insider buying and selling activity for Southern.

How do I buy shares of Southern?

Shares of SO can be purchased through any online brokerage account. Popular online brokerages with access to the U.S. stock market include Vanguard Brokerage Services, TD Ameritrade, E*TRADE, Robinhood, Fidelity, and Charles Schwab.

What is Southern's stock price today?

One share of SO stock can currently be purchased for approximately $60.33.

How big of a company is Southern?

Southern has a market capitalization of $63.60 billion and generates $21.42 billion in revenue each year. The utilities provider earns $4.75 billion in net income (profit) each year or $3.11 on an earnings per share basis. Southern employs 27,943 workers across the globe. View additional information about Southern.

What is Southern's official website?

The official website for Southern is http://www.southerncompany.com/.

How can I contact Southern?

Southern's mailing address is 30 Ivan Allen Jr. Boulevard N.W., Atlanta GA, 30308. The utilities provider can be reached via phone at 404-506-5000 or via email at [email protected]

This page was last updated on 4/10/2020 by MarketBeat.com Staff

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