Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Ieq Capital LLC

Key Points

• Ieq Capital LLC reduced its stake in Southern Company by 6.5% in the 1st quarter, leaving them with approximately $4.49 million worth of shares.
• Southern Company recently reported an EPS of $0.91 for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.08, while revenue increased by 7.9% year-over-year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, representing a 3.2% dividend yield, payable on September 8th.

Ieq Capital LLC lowered its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 6.5% during the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 48,773 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,408 shares during the quarter. Ieq Capital LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $4,485,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other large investors have also modified their holdings of the stock. Quarry LP grew its stake in Southern by 41.4% during the 4th quarter. Quarry LP now owns 762 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $63,000 after buying an additional 223 shares during the last quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 57.3% in the 4th quarter. AQR Capital Management LLC now owns 267,878 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $22,052,000 after acquiring an additional 97,619 shares during the period. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec raised its position in Southern by 4,825.1% in the 4th quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 166,813 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $13,732,000 after purchasing an additional 163,426 shares during the last quarter. 4WEALTH Advisors Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 4th quarter worth $348,000. Finally, All Terrain Financial Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 1.9% during the 4th quarter. All Terrain Financial Advisors LLC now owns 49,436 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $4,070,000 after purchasing an additional 942 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company's stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following 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 sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research analysts have commented on SO shares. KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research note on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.92.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE:SO traded down $0.60 during trading hours on Wednesday, hitting $91.49. The company's stock had a trading volume of 1,961,652 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,087,657. The business's 50-day moving average is $93.43 and its two-hundred day moving average is $90.91. The company has a market capitalization of $100.64 billion, a PE ratio of 23.52, a PEG 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 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted 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). The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during 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%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period 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. As a group, research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

About Southern

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.