Anchor Investment Management LLC Cuts Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Anchor Investment Management LLC decreased its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.8% in the first quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 74,983 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,338 shares during the quarter. Anchor Investment Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $6,895,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Janus Henderson Group PLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 8.6% during the 4th quarter. Janus Henderson Group PLC now owns 131,814 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,853,000 after acquiring an additional 10,481 shares during the last quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.4% during the 4th quarter. MJP Associates Inc. ADV now owns 2,605 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $214,000 after buying an additional 133 shares during the period. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 15.4% in the 4th quarter. MIRAE ASSET GLOBAL ETFS HOLDINGS Ltd. now owns 123,466 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,164,000 after buying an additional 16,433 shares during the last quarter. Meketa Capital LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the fourth quarter worth $767,000. Finally, Measured Risk Portfolios Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the fourth quarter valued at $2,050,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several research reports. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.92.

Insider Activity

In other 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 directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $91.25 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.38 billion, a PE ratio of 23.46, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $93.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.07. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $96.44. 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 (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 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 company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s 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, equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 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.