Cypress Capital Group Sells 417 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Cypress Capital Group reduced its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 7.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,883 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 417 shares during the period. Cypress Capital Group’s holdings in Southern were worth $448,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the second quarter valued at about $2,352,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 35.8% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,672,000 after buying an additional 30,618 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp boosted its position in Southern by 1,982.6% during the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after buying an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Southern by 6.8% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,670,000 after buying an additional 17,111 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Southern by 23.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after buying an additional 4,005 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $98.15 on Tuesday. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $98.42. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The company’s 50-day moving average is $93.67 and its 200 day moving average is $91.79. The stock has a market capitalization of $107.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business 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 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Morgan Stanley lowered their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.31.

About Southern

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.