M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. Increases Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

M.E. Allison & CO. Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 31.6% in the second quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The fund owned 7,574 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,818 shares during the period. M.E. Allison & CO. Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $696,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 275.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $39,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently commented on the company. Evercore ISI started coverage on Southern in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. UBS Group increased their price target on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.31.

Insider Buying and Selling

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

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $98.23 on Monday. 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 $98.36. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.06 billion, a PE ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.62 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.74.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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 analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. Southern’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. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal 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 given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.0%. Southern’s payout ratio is 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.