Janney Montgomery Scott LLC Has $33.02 Million Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its stake in Southern Company by 7.3%, owning 359,551 shares worth approximately $33.02 million as of the latest SEC filing.
• Southern Company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99, although revenue increased by 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year.
• The company declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, resulting in an annualized yield of 3.1% with a payout ratio of 76.09%.

Janney Montgomery Scott LLC reduced its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 7.3% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 359,551 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 28,256 shares during the period. Janney Montgomery Scott LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $33,018,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $10,672,000 after buying an additional 30,618 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp boosted its position in Southern by 1,982.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,352,000. Czech National Bank boosted its position in Southern by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $24,670,000 after buying an additional 17,111 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Southern by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,954,000 after buying an additional 4,005 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Scotiabank raised their price target 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. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and lowered their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $95.08.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE:SO opened at $94.79 on Thursday. The company has a fifty day moving average of $93.49 and a 200-day moving average of $91.40. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.27 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business's revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $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, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $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 can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

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.

This instant news alert was generated by narrative science technology and financial data from MarketBeat in order to provide readers with the fastest and most accurate reporting. This story was reviewed by MarketBeat's editorial team prior to publication. Please send any questions or comments about this story to contact@marketbeat.com.