Southern Company (SO) Rewards Investors With Dividend Hike
Southern Company SO recently announced approval from the board of directors to increase quarterly cash dividend.
The latest quarterly dividend of 64 cents per share is 3.2% higher than the prior 62 cents. The raised dividend is likely to be paid on Jun 8, to stockholders of record as of May 18. Notably, on an annualized basis, the dividend has been increased by 8 cents to $2.56 per share. With this, Southern Company has successfully managed to hike dividends on its common stock for 19 successive years.
The strong commitment to reward shareholders reflects the giant utility’s stable and reliable energy business. The company serves a huge base of 9 million customers with clean, safe, reliable and affordable energy. Importantly, the company gets solid regulatory support from the States where it has been operating for years, thereby generating handsome returns despite charging lower than the national average mark.
Investors should know that the coronavirus pandemic is also affecting utilities. However, the impact is significantly lower as compared to the energy and many other sectors. Notably, for the utilities, the strict lockdown measures owing to the virus outbreak are particularly hurting industrial and commercial power sales.
Southern Company (The) Price
Southern Company (The) price | Southern Company (The) Quote
Headquartered in Atlanta, GA, Southern Company currently carries a Zacks Rank #3 (Hold). A few better-ranked players in the utility space include Portland General Electric Company POR, Duke Energy Corporation DUK and Korea Electric Power Corporation KEP. While Portland General sports a Zacks Rank #1 (Strong Buy), Duke Energy and Korea Electric carry a Zacks Rank #2 (Buy).You can see the complete list of today’s Zacks #1 Rank stocks here.
Portland General is likely to see earnings growth of 8% in 2020.
Duke Energy surpassed the Zacks Consensus Estimate in the prior four quarters.
Korea Electric is likely to see earnings growth of 5% in the next five years.
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