USA Financial Formulas Acquires Shares of 7,403 Southern Company (The) $SO

Key Points

• USA Financial Formulas has acquired 7,403 shares of Southern Company, valued at approximately $680,000, indicating significant institutional interest in the utilities provider.
• Southern Company reported $0.91 earnings per share for the last quarter, missing estimates but achieving a 7.9% year-over-year revenue increase.
• The company announced a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, reflecting an annualized dividend yield of 3.1% and a payout ratio of 76.09%.

USA Financial Formulas acquired a new stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund acquired 7,403 shares of the utilities provider's stock, valued at approximately $680,000.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 35.8% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $10,672,000 after buying an additional 30,618 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1,982.6% during the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth approximately $2,352,000. Czech National Bank raised its stake in shares of Southern by 6.8% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $24,670,000 after purchasing an additional 17,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its stake in shares of Southern by 23.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.0%

Shares of SO stock opened at $94.79 on Thursday. The business's fifty day moving average price is $93.49 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.40. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The firm has a market capitalization of $104.27 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.28 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm's revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the company 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, sell-side analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 76.09%.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently commented on SO. Barclays upped their price target on 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 price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an "equal weight" rating for the company in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a "hold" rating to a "buy" rating and cut their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research note on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average target price of $95.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company's stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company 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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