Sound Income Strategies LLC Grows Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Sound Income Strategies LLC raised its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 244.0% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 11,119 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 7,887 shares during the period. Sound Income Strategies LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,021,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its position in shares of 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 acquiring an additional 1,419,724 shares during the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in Southern by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,297,000 after purchasing an additional 81,066 shares during the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. raised its stake in shares of Southern by 4.1% during the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,107,000 after purchasing an additional 120,816 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms recently weighed in on SO. Mizuho increased their price target 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. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.08.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $93.79 on Tuesday. The firm has a market cap of $103.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. 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 50 day moving average is $93.52 and its 200-day moving average is $91.36. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 business 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 posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s quarterly 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. Sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 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.