Ceredex Value Advisors LLC Acquires 41,050 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Ceredex Value Advisors LLC has increased its holdings in Southern Company by 8.5%, now owning 521,795 shares valued at approximately $48 million.
• Southern Company's CEO, Kimberly S. Greene, recently sold 13,158 shares, reducing their ownership stake by 12.32% after the transaction.
• A number of analysts have adjusted their price targets for Southern Company, with current estimates ranging from $90 to $99, while the stock has an average rating of "Hold."

Ceredex Value Advisors LLC raised its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 8.5% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 521,795 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 41,050 shares during the quarter. Ceredex Value Advisors LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $47,979,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of the business. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec lifted its position in shares of Southern by 99.2% during the first quarter. Caisse DE Depot ET Placement DU Quebec now owns 332,241 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $30,550,000 after purchasing an additional 165,428 shares during the last quarter. Apexium Financial LP lifted its position in shares of Southern by 17.9% during the first quarter. Apexium Financial LP now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $517,000 after purchasing an additional 853 shares during the last quarter. Synovus Financial Corp raised its stake in Southern by 10.9% during the first quarter. Synovus Financial Corp now owns 1,886,882 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $173,498,000 after acquiring an additional 186,106 shares during the period. Cbre Investment Management Listed Real Assets LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the first quarter worth about $25,747,000. Finally, Cadence Bank raised its stake in Southern by 7.1% during the first quarter. Cadence Bank now owns 15,220 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,399,000 after acquiring an additional 1,010 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several equities research analysts recently weighed in on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price objective 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 restated an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Five research 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. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $94.92.

Southern Stock Performance

SO traded up $0.10 during trading on Friday, hitting $92.34. The stock had a trading volume of 3,227,614 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,117,155. The firm has a market cap of $101.58 billion, a PE ratio of 23.74, a P/E/G ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.38. 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 simple moving average of $93.38 and a 200-day simple moving average of $90.80.

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 analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business 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 period in the previous 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. Analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the 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 of the company's stock, valued at $8,897,795. This 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 is available at this hyperlink. 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.