Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) Receives Consensus Rating of "Hold" from Brokerages

Key Points

• Southern Company has received a consensus rating of "Hold" from 14 brokerages, with one sell recommendation, eight holds, and five buys. The average 12-month price target is $94.36.
• CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold over 13,000 shares for approximately $1.25 million, representing a 12.32% decrease in her holdings.
• The company reported $0.91 EPS for the last quarter, missing estimates by $0.08, but had revenue of $6.97 billion, exceeding expectations.

Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) has been given a consensus rating of "Hold" by the fourteen ratings firms that are covering the firm, MarketBeat reports. One research analyst has rated the stock with a sell recommendation, eight have given a hold recommendation and five have issued a buy recommendation on the company. The average 12-month price objective among analysts that have issued a report on the stock in the last year is $94.3571.

A number of brokerages have issued reports on SO. Wall Street Zen downgraded Southern from a "hold" rating to a "sell" rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Scotiabank upped their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a "sector outperform" rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Evercore ISI upped their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the company an "in-line" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently made changes to their positions in SO. Investors Research Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 400.0% in the 1st quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $25,000 after purchasing an additional 216 shares during the period. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 275.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $27,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter worth about $28,000. Advantage Trust Co boosted its stake in Southern by 1,428.6% in the 2nd quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider's stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Finally, Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in Southern in the 1st quarter worth about $33,000. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company's stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.0%

NYSE SO opened at $93.17 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $102.49 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.95, a PEG ratio of 3.22 and a beta of 0.38. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.14 and a 200 day simple moving average of $90.69. Southern 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 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 net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company's quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the previous year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. 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 predict that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed 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 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. Southern's dividend payout ratio is 76.09%.

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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