Values First Advisors Inc. Buys 657 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Values First Advisors Inc. boosted its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.7% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 7,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the period. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Equitable Trust Co. grew its position in Southern by 24.7% in the 2nd quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,171,000 after purchasing an additional 6,843 shares during the period. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at $2,352,000. Investors Research Corp grew its position in shares of Southern by 1,982.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after acquiring an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,672,000 after acquiring an additional 30,618 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank grew its position in shares of Southern by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,670,000 after acquiring an additional 17,111 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the 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 owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Cowen began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday. They set a “buy” rating for the company. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted 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. TD Cowen began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.57.

Southern Stock Down 1.3%

SO opened at $98.44 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.84. The firm’s fifty day moving average is $93.94 and its 200 day moving average is $91.95. The stock has a market cap of $108.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. 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 forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed 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. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. 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.