Southern - SO Stock Forecast, Price & News

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.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO opened at $77.90 on Friday. The business's 50 day moving average is $72.33 and its two-hundred day moving average is $71.42. Southern has a 52-week low of $60.99 and a 52-week high of $78.82. The firm has a market cap of $82.81 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 27.43, a PEG ratio of 5.42 and a beta of 0.50. The company has a quick ratio of 0.67, a current ratio of 0.85 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.55.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Rating) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 28th. The utilities provider reported $1.07 earnings per share (EPS) 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 company had revenue of $7.21 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $5.31 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $0.84 EPS. Southern's quarterly revenue was up 38.6% on a year-over-year basis. Analysts forecast that Southern will post 3.61 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Tuesday, September 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 15th will be issued a $0.68 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Friday, August 12th. This represents a $2.72 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.49%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 95.77%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several research analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $67.00 to $76.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, April 21st. Barclays reduced their price objective on Southern from $82.00 to $79.00 and set an "overweight" rating on the stock in a research note on Monday, July 18th. Wells Fargo & Company boosted their price target on Southern from $68.00 to $80.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Tuesday, April 19th. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Southern from $67.00 to $66.00 and set an "underweight" rating on the stock in a research report on Monday, May 23rd. Finally, Guggenheim boosted their price target on Southern from $76.00 to $80.00 in a research report on Thursday, July 21st. Two analysts have rated the stock with a sell rating, six have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $75.70.

Insider Activity

In other news, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Friday, July 29th. The stock was sold at an average price of $76.00, for a total value of $1,900,000.00. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now directly owns 136,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,411,012. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. In related news, EVP James Y. Kerr II sold 25,000 shares of the company's 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 transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 136,987 shares in the company, valued at approximately $10,411,012. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available through this link. Also, CEO Stephen E. Kuczynski sold 14,500 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Tuesday, July 5th. The stock was sold at an average price of $72.92, for a total value of $1,057,340.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now owns 115,284 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,406,509.28. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. In the last ninety days, insiders sold 54,000 shares of company stock worth $4,002,500. 0.37% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.