Market Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company second-quarter earnings to be released July 27

[PR Newswire] – ATLANTA, July 8, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Southern Company plans to release its earnings for the second quarter of 2016 by 7:30 a.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 27. Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer Thomas A. Fanning and Chief Financial Officer Art P. Beattie will discuss earnings during a conference call for financial analysts at 1 p.m. EDT on Wednesday, July 27. Southern Company (SO) is America’s premier energy company, with 44,000 megawatts of generating capacity and 1,500 billion cubic feet of combined natural gas consumption and throughput volume serving 9 million electric and gas utility customers through its subsidiaries. Read more on this. Southern Company (SO) , valued at $50.60B, opened this morning at $53.42. During the trading session, SO traded between $52.95 to $53.92 with the price of the stock fluctuating between $41.81 to $54.49 over the last 52 weeks. SO shares are currently priced at 18.83x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 15.58x forward p/e ratio. And for dividend hunters, the company pays shareholders $2.24 per share annually in dividends, yielding 4.26%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 11 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.69 per share, which would be $0.02 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.02 sequential decrease. Investors should also note that the full-year EPS estimate of $2.85 is a $0.04 setback when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $4.54 Billion. If reported, that would be a 4.61% increase over the year-ago quarter. In terms of ratings, Scotia Howard Weil Initiated SO at Sector Perform (May 13, 2016). Previously, Mizuho Initiated SO at to Buy. The average price target for SO shares by the analysts covering it is $50.20, which is 6.03% below where the stock opened. See more in (NYSE:SO) Similar Articles: Market Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company subsidiary acquires Henrietta Solar Project Stock Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company first-quarter earnings to be released April 27 Company Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company reports fourth quarter and full year 2015 earnings