Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio Lowers Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

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Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio reduced its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 451,487 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 3,675 shares during the period. Public Employees Retirement System of Ohio's holdings in Southern were worth $41,460,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 0.7% in the 1st quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its holdings in Southern by 1.1% in the 1st quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $922,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 23.0% in the 1st quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares during the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in Southern by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $562,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,565 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank boosted their target price 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. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price 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. 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. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $94.92.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $94.39 on Thursday. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $96.44. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.53 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.27. The stock has a market cap of $103.83 billion, a PE ratio of 24.26, a P/E/G ratio of 3.24 and a beta of 0.41.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. Southern's revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. 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 3.1%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business's stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at 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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