Cultivar Capital Inc. bought a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The fund bought 2,795 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $257,000.
Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in SO. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at about $510,229,000. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 11,230.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $179,690,000 after buying an additional 1,936,965 shares in the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.4% during the first 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 in the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 23.2% during the fourth quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC now owns 5,208,872 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $428,794,000 after buying an additional 979,756 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 1,747.3% during the fourth quarter. Westwood Holdings Group Inc. now owns 896,323 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $73,785,000 after buying an additional 847,803 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.
Southern Price Performance
Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $92.27 on Monday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $93.53 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $91.15. The stock has a market cap of $101.50 billion, a PE ratio of 23.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.19 and a beta of 0.41. 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 one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $96.44.
Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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 for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Southern's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter last year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. On average, analysts forecast 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. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern's payout ratio is currently 76.09%.
Analyst Ratings Changes
A number of analysts recently commented on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, August 21st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank boosted 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. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.92.
View Our Latest Analysis on Southern
Insider Buying and Selling at Southern
In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The shares were sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of 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 the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.
About Southern
(
Free Report)
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.
Further Reading
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