Southern Company (The) $SO Stock Holdings Trimmed by Stephens Consulting LLC

Stephens Consulting LLC lowered its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 20.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 2,698 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 679 shares during the period. Stephens Consulting LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $248,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.1% during the 1st quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the 2nd quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the last quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 4.4% during the 1st quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the 1st quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts recently weighed in on the company. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays upped their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group upped their price target on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $96.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Southern Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of SO opened at $98.23 on Monday. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $98.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.74. The stock has a market cap of $108.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its 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 company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’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. On average, sell-side analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. 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.