Market Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company fourth-quarter earnings to be released Feb. 3

[PR Newswire] – ATLANTA, Jan. 7, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Southern Company plans to release its earnings for the fourth quarter of 2015 at 7:30 a.m. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 3. 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. EST on Wednesday, Feb. 3. With more than 4.5 million customers and approximately 46,000 megawatts of generating capacity, Atlanta-based Southern Company (SO) is the premier energy company serving the Southeast through its subsidiaries. Read more on this. Southern Company (SO) , valued at $42.79B, started trading this morning at $47.00. A quick look at the market, the company’s stock traded between $46.87 and $47.45 with its 52-week range being $41.40 to $53.16. SO shares are currently priced at 16.56x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 4.71x earnings multiple. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $2.17 per share annually in dividends, yielding 4.64%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 14 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.43 per share, which would be $0.05 better than the year-ago quarter and a $0.01 sequential increase. Furthermore, our analysis shows the full-year EPS estimate to be $2.86, which would be a $0.06 improvement when compared to the last year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is predicated on a consensus revenue forecast of $4.48 Billion. If reported, that would be a 10.62% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Mizuho Initiated SO at Buy (Apr 24, 2015). Previously, Guggenheim Initiated SO at to Neutral. Investors should keep in mind is that the average price target is $46.33, which is 1.43% below where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:SO) Similar Articles: Market Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company reports third quarter earnings Stock Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company third-quarter earnings to be released Oct. 28 Market Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company reports second-quarter earnings