Stock Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company to Acquire PowerSecure International, Inc.

[PR Newswire] – ATLANTA and WAKE FOREST, N.C., Feb. 24, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Southern Company (SO) and PowerSecure International, Inc. (POWR) today announced that the boards of directors of both companies have approved a definitive merger agreement through which Southern Company will acquire PowerSecure, with PowerSecure becoming a wholly owned subsidiary of Southern Company. Southern Company believes that the advancement of distributed infrastructure technologies – the very technologies in which PowerSecure specializes through its unique business model – helps meet customers’ future energy needs as part of the full portfolio of energy resources. As Southern Company and PowerSecure prepare for tomorrow, the combination of one of America’s leading energy companies with a successful, customer-focused provider of differentiated energy solutions and innovative energy infrastructure is designed to expand Southern Company’s opportunities to provide customized energy products to customers. Read more on this. Southern Company (SO) , valued at $44.67B, started trading this morning at $48.83. Today, shares have traded between $48.59 and $49.39 per share with its 52-week range being $41.40 to $50.24. SO shares are currently priced at 17.23x this year’s forecasted earnings, which makes them relatively expensive compared to the industry’s 15.49x earnings multiple for the same period. And for income investors, the company pays shareholders $2.17 per share annually in dividends, yielding 4.47%. Consensus earnings for the current quarter by the 9 sell-side analysts covering the stock is an estimate of $0.54 per share, which would be $0.02 worse than the year-ago quarter and a $0.05 sequential decrease. What we find to be interesting is 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 based on a consensus revenue forecast of the current quarter of $4.39 Billion. If realized, that would be a 5.02% increase over the year-ago quarter. More recently, Mizuho Initiated SO at Buy (Apr 24, 2015). Previously, Guggenheim Initiated SO at to Neutral. With the above information in mind, readers should note that the average price target is $47.63, which is 2.46% below where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:SO) Similar Articles: Stock Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company subsidiary and Turner Renewable Energy acquire Calipatria Solar Facility in California Stock Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company recognized for best-in-class customer service Stock Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company subsidiary to acquire second wind project, surpassing 1,600 MW of renewable generation development