Fifth Third Bancorp Decreases Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Fifth Third Bancorp reduced its stake in Southern Company by 10.7% in Q4, selling 12,751 shares and ending the period with 106,623 shares valued at about $9.30 million.
• Southern beat Q1 estimates with $1.32 adjusted EPS (vs. $1.21 consensus) and $8.40B revenue (up ~8%), helped by higher power demand, but issued slightly softer Q2 and FY‑2026 guidance that could cap near‑term upside.
• Insiders sold shares (the EVP and CEO trimmed positions in March), and the company raised its quarterly dividend to $0.76 (annualized $3.04, ~3.1% yield).

Fifth Third Bancorp cut its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 10.7% in the fourth quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 106,623 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 12,751 shares during the period. Fifth Third Bancorp's holdings in Southern were worth $9,298,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Cloud Capital Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $25,000. Grey Fox Wealth Advisors LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Triumph Capital Management bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $29,000. Migdal Insurance & Financial Holdings Ltd. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 4th quarter valued at $31,000. Finally, Steigerwald Gordon & Koch Inc. bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 3rd quarter valued at $34,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern News Summary

Here are the key news stories impacting Southern this week:

• Positive Sentiment: Adjusted Q1 results beat Street estimates — Southern reported $1.32 adjusted EPS vs. ~$1.21 consensus and revenue of $8.40B (up ~8% y/y), signaling better-than-expected operational performance. PR Newswire: Q1 Release
• Positive Sentiment: Near-term demand strength helped results — utilities saw higher power demand in the quarter, which management cited as a contributor to the beat. This demand-led beat supports near-term cash flow expectations. Reuters: Q1 Coverage
• Positive Sentiment: Analyst support and profitability metrics — some coverage noted Southern among profitable renewable names and at least one firm (Wells Fargo) raised its price target recently, which can help sentiment. Yahoo Finance: Why Southern May Be Gaining Strength
• Neutral Sentiment: Investor materials published — the company posted its earnings slide deck and call transcript, providing more detail for investors to model regulated earnings and capital plans. Useful for granular forecasting but not market-moving by itself. Seeking Alpha: Q1 Presentation
• Neutral Sentiment: Peer/sector comparisons — some analysts highlight peers (e.g., Vistra) with different clean-energy exposures and valuations; that frames relative valuation discussions but doesn't directly change Southern’s fundamentals. Zacks: Peer Comparison
• Negative Sentiment: Guidance contains modest soft spots — Southern updated FY‑2026 and Q2 guidance (Q2 EPS guide of $1.00 vs. the ~ $1.02 consensus; FY26 guide $4.50–4.60 vs. ~4.57 consensus), which is broadly in line but slightly below some street expectations and could limit upside if the market wanted a clearer beat/raise. PR Newswire: Q1 Release (guidance)

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, EVP Christopher Cummiskey sold 6,669 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Thursday, March 19th. The shares were sold at an average price of $96.55, for a total value of $643,891.95. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president owned 30,800 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $2,973,740. This represents a 17.80% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Also, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 25,000 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 30th. The stock was sold at an average price of $96.67, for a total transaction of $2,416,750.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 103,602 shares of the company's stock, valued at $10,015,205.34. This represents a 19.44% decrease in their position. Additional details regarding this sale are available in the official SEC disclosure. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Wells Fargo & Company set a $96.00 price objective on shares of Southern and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, February 20th. Mizuho set a $105.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. KeyCorp raised shares of Southern from an "underweight" rating to a "sector weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, March 4th. Evercore raised shares of Southern from an "in-line" rating to an "outperform" rating and set a $111.00 price objective for the company in a research report on Thursday, March 5th. Finally, Barclays boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, April 10th. Seven equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $99.85.

Southern Trading Up 0.2%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $96.87 on Friday. The company has a market capitalization of $109.30 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.65, a P/E/G ratio of 2.92 and a beta of 0.36. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a quick ratio of 0.47 and a current ratio of 0.65. The company has a fifty day moving average of $95.89 and a 200 day moving average of $92.08. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $83.09 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued its earnings results on Thursday, April 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.21 by $0.11. The company had revenue of $8.40 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. Southern had a net margin of 14.46% and a return on equity of 12.64%. Southern's quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.23 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.58 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th will be issued a $0.76 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, May 18th. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. This is an increase from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern's payout ratio is currently 75.32%.

About Southern

Southern Company NYSE: SO is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern's principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.

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