Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton Trims Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton cut its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,772 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 222 shares during the quarter. Rosenberg Matthew Hamilton’s holdings in Southern were worth $438,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 125.4% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 40.5% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,789,000 after buying an additional 623,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. grew its position in Southern by 71.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,253,000 after buying an additional 499,996 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI initiated coverage on Southern in a report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.85.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $99.80 on Wednesday. The business has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.77 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.85. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $99.81. The stock has a market capitalization of $109.78 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.65, a PEG ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.43. 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 (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. Southern’s 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. As a group, analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders 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 dividend yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

Southern Company 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.