Analysts Set Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) PT at $97.54

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) has earned a consensus rating of “Hold” from the seventeen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat.com reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating, five have assigned a buy rating and one has given a strong buy rating to the company. The average 1 year target price among brokers that have issued ratings on the stock in the last year is $98.8333.

SO has been the topic of several recent analyst reports. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, October 10th. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. KeyCorp upped their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday. TD Cowen initiated coverage on Southern in a research note on Thursday. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Institutional Investors Weigh In On Southern

A number of large investors have recently modified their holdings of the stock. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.6% in the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,725,187,000 after buying an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 0.9% in the second quarter. Geode Capital Management LLC now owns 26,006,919 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,377,494,000 after buying an additional 241,572 shares in the last quarter. Norges Bank acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter valued at about $1,179,715,000. Northern Trust Corp grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after buying an additional 107,394 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.3% in the second quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,768,667 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $621,567,000 after buying an additional 87,891 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $97.80 on Thursday. The business’s 50-day moving average price is $94.00 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.99. Southern has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $100.83. The company has a market capitalization of $107.58 billion, a PE ratio of 25.14, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

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 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 for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’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, research analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

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.