MBL Wealth LLC Makes New Investment in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• MBL Wealth LLC has acquired a new position in Southern Company, purchasing 5,061 shares valued at approximately $465,000 during the first quarter.
• Several hedge funds, including Nuveen LLC and UBS AM, have significantly increased their stakes in Southern Company, highlighting growing institutional interest with 64.10% of the stock owned by institutional investors.
• Southern Company recently announced a quarterly dividend of $0.74 and has a dividend yield of 3.2%, demonstrating a solid return for investors amidst varied stock analyst ratings.

MBL Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The firm bought 5,061 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $465,000.

Other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the company. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. GAMMA Investing LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. increased 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 during the last quarter. UBS AM a distinct business unit of UBS ASSET MANAGEMENT AMERICAS LLC increased 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 during the last quarter. Finally, Westwood Holdings Group Inc. increased 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 during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of equities analysts recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and reduced their price objective for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company's stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $94.92.

Southern Price Performance

SO opened at $91.47 on Wednesday. The company has a market capitalization of $100.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.49, a PEG ratio of 3.14 and a beta of 0.41. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $96.44. The business's fifty day simple moving average is $93.47 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.07.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company's revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern 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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