Summit Financial LLC Purchases 22,546 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Southern Company by 39.1% during the 1st quarter, now owning 80,214 shares valued at approximately $7.38 million.
• CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares at $95.00 each, marking a 12.32% decrease in her ownership, with her remaining shares valued at around $8.9 million.
• The company recently reported quarterly earnings of $0.91 per share, missing estimates by $0.08, despite revenues of $6.97 billion surpassing expectations.

Summit Financial LLC increased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 39.1% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 80,214 shares of the utilities provider's stock after purchasing an additional 22,546 shares during the quarter. Summit Financial LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $7,376,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the stock. GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,954,000 after buying an additional 4,005 shares during the last quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 4.1% in the first quarter. Oppenheimer Asset Management Inc. now owns 4,645 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $427,000 after acquiring an additional 182 shares during the period. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 0.4% in 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 last quarter. Banque Cantonale Vaudoise bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $945,000. Finally, Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 4.2% during the 4th quarter. Cambridge Investment Research Advisors Inc. now owns 398,624 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $32,815,000 after purchasing an additional 15,923 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

SO has been the topic of several recent research reports. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an "outperform" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded shares of Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and decreased their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Evercore ISI boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $94.36.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of SO traded down $0.1760 during trading hours on Friday, reaching $94.4440. 3,304,937 shares of the stock traded hands, compared to its average volume of 5,592,975. The company has a market cap of $103.89 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.28, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.26 and a beta of 0.38. 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's 50-day moving average price is $92.96 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $90.62. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last issued 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). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. The company's quarterly 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, analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors 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 yield of 3.1%. Southern's payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

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.