Level Four Advisory Services LLC Sells 1,711 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Level Four Advisory Services LLC cut its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.7% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The firm owned 44,134 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,711 shares during the quarter. Level Four Advisory Services LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,058,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other large investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. GAMMA Investing LLC grew its position in Southern by 11,230.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,936,965 shares during the period. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after buying an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC grew its position in Southern by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $428,794,000 after buying an additional 979,756 shares during the period. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. grew its position in Southern by 1,747.3% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 896,323 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $73,785,000 after buying an additional 847,803 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $94.9140 on Thursday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The company has a market capitalization of $104.41 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.40, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.38. The firm’s 50 day simple moving average is $92.79 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $90.37.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is 76.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Morgan Stanley cut their target price on shares of Southern from $91.00 to $90.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Wednesday, June 18th. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a “sector weight” rating to an “underweight” rating and set a $78.00 target price for the company. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Guggenheim reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and set a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.29.

Southern Profile

The Southern Company, through its subsidiaries, engages in the generation, transmission, and distribution of electricity. The company also develops, constructs, acquires, owns, and manages power generation assets, including renewable energy projects and sells electricity in the wholesale market; and distributes natural gas in Illinois, Georgia, Virginia, and Tennessee, as well as provides gas marketing services, gas distribution operations, and gas pipeline investments operations.