Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Annex Advisory Services LLC

Key Points

• Annex Advisory Services LLC sold 12,206 shares of Southern Company, reducing its stake by 20.1%, leaving it with 48,378 shares valued at approximately $4.44 million.
• Southern's CEO, Kimberly S. Greene, sold 13,158 shares for over $1.25 million, decreasing her total ownership by 12.32%.
• Analysts have mixed ratings on Southern Company, with consensus being "Hold" and an average price target of $94.92, while recent earnings missed estimates.

Annex Advisory Services LLC reduced its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 20.1% in the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund owned 48,378 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 12,206 shares during the quarter. Annex Advisory Services LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $4,443,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the first quarter valued at $510,229,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $179,690,000 after acquiring an additional 1,936,965 shares during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $9,582,126,000 after buying an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 125.4% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. raised its holdings in Southern by 2,780.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,628 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $64,423,000 after acquiring an additional 676,302 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:SO traded up $0.41 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $91.86. 9,381,376 shares of the stock were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 3,935,855. The stock has a market capitalization of $101.05 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.61, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.41. The business's 50-day moving average price is $93.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.22. 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 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly 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). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during 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 company's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.92.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

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.