Amundi Trims Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Amundi reduced its stake in Southern Company by 38.4% in Q1, now owning 1,712,696 shares worth $158.5 million.
• Wall Street analysts have mixed views on Southern, with five giving Buy ratings, while one analyst downgraded it to a "Sell" rating.
• Southern Company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, translating to a 3.2% yield and an impending payout date of September 8th.

Amundi lessened its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 38.4% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 1,712,696 shares of the utilities provider's stock after selling 1,067,441 shares during the quarter. Amundi owned approximately 0.16% of Southern worth $158,527,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC).

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Investors Research Corp boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 400.0% during the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after acquiring an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter worth $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $36,000. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $39,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several brokerages have commented on SO. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They issued an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank upped their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Mizuho raised their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, KeyCorp lowered shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price objective on the stock. in a research report on Wednesday, May 14th. Five research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $94.92.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company's stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.9%

Shares of Southern stock traded down $0.87 during trading on Monday, reaching $90.91. The company's stock had a trading volume of 3,703,358 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,068,339. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $100.01 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.41. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.49 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.07.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts' consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $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, equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.3%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

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.