Stock Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Co. subsidiary buys controlling interest in California solar facility

[at American City Business Journals] – Birmingham, Ala.-based Southern Power bought a controlling interest in the 200-megawatt (MW) Garland solar facility under construction in California from Recurrent Energy, a subsidiary of Canadian Solar Inc. (CSIQ). Atlanta-based Southern Co. (SO) reported Southern Power (a Southern Co. subsidiary) now owns more than 650 MW across nine operating or planned facilities in California. Read more on this. Southern Company (SO) , with a current market cap of $41.72B, opened this morning at $46.43. Looking at today’s trading action, the company’s one day range from $44.42 to $46.50 and has traded between $41.40 and $53.16 over the past year. Southern (SO) shares are currently priced at 16.20x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 12.93x earnings multiple for the same period. And for passive income investors, the company pays shareholders $2.17 per share annually in dividends, yielding 4.78%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 12 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 $0.00 sequential decrease. In looking at the bigger picture, the full-year EPS estimate of $2.86 would be a $0.06 better when compared to the previous year’s annual results. The quarterly earnings estimate is based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $4.46 Billion. If realized, that would be a 10.12% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Mizuho Initiated SO at Buy (Apr 24, 2015). Previously, Guggenheim Initiated SO at to Neutral. The average price target for SO shares by the analysts covering the stock is $45.60, which is 1.79% below where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:SO) Similar Articles: Company Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company subsidiary acquires system’s largest solar project Stock Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company Buys AGL Resources—Secures Gas Infrastructure Company Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company subsidiary surpasses 400 MW of solar generation development in Georgia