Zacks Research Weighs in on Southern's Q3 Earnings (NYSE:SO)

The Southern Company (NYSE:SO - Free Report) - Analysts at Zacks Research increased their Q3 2025 EPS estimates for shares of Southern in a research note issued on Wednesday, May 21st. Zacks Research analyst T. Saha now expects that the utilities provider will earn $1.53 per share for the quarter, up from their prior estimate of $1.42. The consensus estimate for Southern's current full-year earnings is $4.29 per share. Zacks Research also issued estimates for Southern's Q3 2026 earnings at $1.22 EPS and Q4 2026 earnings at $1.01 EPS.

SO has been the subject of a number of other reports. Mizuho lifted their price objective on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a "neutral" rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. KeyCorp downgraded shares of Southern from a "sector weight" rating to an "underweight" rating and set a $78.00 price target for the company. in a report on Wednesday, May 14th. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an "outperform" rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, March 20th. Evercore ISI raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $83.00 to $90.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a report on Tuesday, April 22nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and four have assigned a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of "Hold" and a consensus target price of $92.21.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.27 during midday trading on Friday, hitting $89.91. 4,316,593 shares of the company were exchanged, compared to its average volume of 4,494,571. The firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $89.87 and a 200-day simple moving average of $87.20. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.60, a current ratio of 0.67 and a quick ratio of 0.66. The firm has a market cap of $98.82 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.42, a PEG ratio of 3.01 and a beta of 0.40. Southern has a 52 week low of $76.64 and a 52 week high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. The firm had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. Southern had a net margin of 16.47% and a return on equity of 12.23%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business posted $1.03 earnings per share.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors have recently modified their holdings of SO. Jacobi Capital Management LLC grew its holdings in Southern by 2.6% during the first quarter. Jacobi Capital Management LLC now owns 28,452 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $2,616,000 after purchasing an additional 715 shares during the period. Advisors Capital Management LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 9.3% during the first quarter. Advisors Capital Management LLC now owns 289,626 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $26,631,000 after purchasing an additional 24,564 shares in the last quarter. SWAN Capital LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.8% in the 1st quarter. SWAN Capital LLC now owns 18,525 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,703,000 after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Rollins Financial Advisors LLC now owns 18,509 shares of the utilities provider's stock valued at $1,702,000 after buying an additional 725 shares in the last quarter. Finally, MBL Wealth LLC acquired a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter worth $465,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 32,190 shares of the firm's stock in a transaction on Monday, March 10th. The stock was sold at an average price of $93.12, for a total value of $2,997,532.80. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 106,819 shares in the company, valued at $9,946,985.28. This trade represents a 23.16% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,125 shares of the company's stock in a transaction dated Monday, March 3rd. The shares were sold at an average price of $89.61, for a total value of $100,811.25. Following the completion of the sale, the executive vice president now owns 102,090 shares of the company's stock, valued at $9,148,284.90. This represents a 1.09% decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Southern Increases Dividend

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Friday, June 6th. Stockholders of record on Monday, May 19th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This is a boost from Southern's previous quarterly dividend of $0.72. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.29%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 70.64%.

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.