Ritholtz Wealth Management Has $1.84 Million Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Ritholtz Wealth Management increased its stake in Southern Company by 18.1% during the second quarter, bringing its total holdings to $1.84 million.
• Multiple hedge funds have made changes to their positions in Southern Company, with institutional investors now owning 64.10% of the stock.
• Southern Company reported Q2 earnings of $0.91 per share, falling short of analyst expectations, although quarterly revenue rose 7.9% year-over-year.

Ritholtz Wealth Management raised its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 18.1% in the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 20,036 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 3,065 shares during the period. Ritholtz Wealth Management's holdings in Southern were worth $1,840,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% during the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,565 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. KPP Advisory Services LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the second quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,392 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares during the period. MBE Wealth Management LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.4% during the first quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,827 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares during the period. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the first quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,627 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the subject of a number of analyst reports. BMO Capital Markets increased 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. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Morgan Stanley decreased their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Six analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company's stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $98.57.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $98.44 on Friday. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.84. The company has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.94 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.95. The company has a market capitalization of $108.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.43. 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 (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. 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. Analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced 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. 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 3.0%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction that occurred 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, 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 document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Company 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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