B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC Buys New Shares in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC acquired a new stake in Southern Company, purchasing 4,156 shares valued at approximately $382,000.
• Several institutional investors increased their stakes in Southern Company, including Vanguard Group Inc., which now owns 104,210,177 shares valued at nearly $9.6 billion.
• Southern Company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, with an annualized yield of 3.1% and a payout ratio of approximately 76.09%.

B.O.S.S. Retirement Advisors LLC bought a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund bought 4,156 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $382,000.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the first quarter valued at $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. increased its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. increased its stake in Southern by 125.4% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. increased its stake in Southern by 2,780.2% in the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,628 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $64,423,000 after purchasing an additional 676,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC increased its stake in Southern by 40.5% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $198,789,000 after purchasing an additional 623,417 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the subject of several research analyst reports. Barclays lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their target price on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $95.08.

Southern Stock Up 0.0%

Southern stock opened at $94.79 on Thursday. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $96.44. The stock has a market cap of $104.27 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.43. The firm's 50-day simple moving average is $93.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.40. 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 - Get Free Report) 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). 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 analysts' expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the firm earned $1.10 earnings per share. The firm's 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. Research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the stock in a transaction that occurred on 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 directly 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 legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.

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