SO vs. AEP, LNT, ATO, CMS, D, DUK, ED, NI, WEC, and NEE
Should you be buying Southern stock or one of its competitors? The main competitors of Southern include American Electric Power (AEP), Alliant Energy (LNT), Atmos Energy (ATO), CMS Energy (CMS), Dominion Energy (D), Duke Energy (DUK), Consolidated Edison (ED), NiSource (NI), WEC Energy Group (WEC), and NextEra Energy (NEE). These companies are all part of the "utilities" sector.
Southern vs. Its Competitors
American Electric Power (NASDAQ:AEP) and Southern (NYSE:SO) are both large-cap utilities companies, but which is the superior business? We will contrast the two companies based on the strength of their risk, dividends, profitability, media sentiment, valuation, institutional ownership, earnings and analyst recommendations.
Southern has higher revenue and earnings than American Electric Power. American Electric Power is trading at a lower price-to-earnings ratio than Southern, indicating that it is currently the more affordable of the two stocks.
American Electric Power pays an annual dividend of $3.72 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.4%. Southern pays an annual dividend of $2.96 per share and has a dividend yield of 3.2%. American Electric Power pays out 54.4% of its earnings in the form of a dividend. Southern pays out 76.1% of its earnings in the form of a dividend, suggesting it may not have sufficient earnings to cover its dividend payment in the future. American Electric Power has increased its dividend for 15 consecutive years and Southern has increased its dividend for 25 consecutive years. American Electric Power is clearly the better dividend stock, given its higher yield and lower payout ratio.
American Electric Power currently has a consensus target price of $111.29, indicating a potential upside of 0.24%. Southern has a consensus target price of $94.92, indicating a potential upside of 2.80%. Given Southern's stronger consensus rating and higher probable upside, analysts clearly believe Southern is more favorable than American Electric Power.
American Electric Power has a beta of 0.46, indicating that its stock price is 54% less volatile than the S&P 500. Comparatively, Southern has a beta of 0.41, indicating that its stock price is 59% less volatile than the S&P 500.
American Electric Power has a net margin of 17.68% compared to Southern's net margin of 15.10%. Southern's return on equity of 12.09% beat American Electric Power's return on equity.
75.2% of American Electric Power shares are owned by institutional investors. Comparatively, 64.1% of Southern shares are owned by institutional investors. 0.1% of American Electric Power shares are owned by company insiders. Comparatively, 0.2% of Southern shares are owned by company insiders. Strong institutional ownership is an indication that endowments, hedge funds and large money managers believe a stock is poised for long-term growth.
In the previous week, Southern had 7 more articles in the media than American Electric Power. MarketBeat recorded 27 mentions for Southern and 20 mentions for American Electric Power. Southern's average media sentiment score of 1.57 beat American Electric Power's score of 1.52 indicating that Southern is being referred to more favorably in the news media.
Summary
Southern beats American Electric Power on 11 of the 18 factors compared between the two stocks.
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New MarketBeat Followers Over Time
This chart shows the number of new MarketBeat users adding SO and its top 5 competitors to their watchlist. Each company is represented with a line over a 90 day period.
Media Sentiment Over Time
This chart shows the average media sentiment of NYSE and its competitors over the past 90 days as caculated by MarketBeat. The averaged score is equivalent to the following: Very Negative Sentiment <= -1.5, Negative Sentiment > -1.5 and <= -0.5, Neutral Sentiment > -0.5 and < 0.5, Positive Sentiment >= 0.5 and < 1.5, and Very Positive Sentiment >= 1.5.
Southern Competitors List
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This page (NYSE:SO) was last updated on 9/1/2025 by MarketBeat.com Staff
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