Market Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company, AGL Resources receive merger approval from Virginia regulators

[PR Newswire] – ATLANTA, Feb. 23, 2016 /PRNewswire/ — Southern Company (SO) and AGL Resources ( GAS ) today received unanimous regulatory approval of the companies ’ proposed merger from the Virginia State Corporation Commission. AGL Resources is the parent company of Virginia Natural Gas , a regulated utility providing natural gas distribution services to approximately 290,000 customers in southeastern Virginia, including the Hampton Roads region. Read more on this. Southern Company (SO) , currently valued at $44.78B, started the session at $48.97. Looking at the equity, the company’s one day range is $48.75 to $49.27 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 11.76x earnings multiple for the same period. The company pays shareholders $2.17 per share in dividend income per year, for a current yield of 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. The full-year EPS estimate is $2.85 which would be a $0.04 worse than last year’s full-year earnings. 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. Recently, Mizuho Initiated SO at Buy (Apr 24, 2015). Previously, Guggenheim Initiated SO at to Neutral. The average price target for SO shares is $47.63, which is 2.74% below where the stock opened this morning. See more in (NYSE:SO) Similar Articles: Market Update (NYSE:SO): Southern Company, AGL Resources file merger request in Georgia Stock Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company, AGL Resources file request with Maryland regulators for approval of merger Company Update: The Southern Company (NYSE:SO) – Southern Company, AGL Resources file request with New Jersey regulators for approval of merger