Arlington Trust Co LLC Sells 307 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Arlington Trust Co LLC cut its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The institutional investor owned 5,645 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 307 shares during the period. Arlington Trust Co LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $518,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Investors Research Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $36,000. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter worth approximately $39,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. Morgan Stanley reiterated an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Mizuho raised their price objective 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. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.92.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $92.27 on Monday. The firm has a market cap of $101.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $96.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.53 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.15.

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

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

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.