Southern (NYSE:SO) Issues FY 2025 Earnings Guidance

Key Points

• Southern (NYSE:SO) has issued a FY 2025 earnings guidance with EPS expected between 4.200-4.300, slightly lower than the consensus estimate of 4.275.
• The company has announced a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, with a yield of 3.11%, reflecting a dividend payout ratio of 70.64%.
• Recent analyst reports have raised price targets for Southern, with the consensus price target currently at $93.53 and most analysts rating it a "Hold".

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) updated its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday. The company provided EPS guidance of 4.200-4.300 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 4.275. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Southern also updated its Q3 2025 guidance to 1.500-1.500 EPS.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts recently issued reports on the stock. Wells Fargo & Company upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the company an "equal weight" rating in a research note on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim restated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, May 2nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $97.00 and gave the stock a "neutral" rating in a report on Tuesday, July 15th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an "outperform" rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Evercore ISI increased 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. One analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have assigned a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of "Hold" and a consensus price target of $93.53.

Southern Stock Down 0.2%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $95.03 on Thursday. Southern has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The stock has a market cap of $104.44 billion, a P/E ratio of 22.68, a P/E/G ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.38. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. The firm has a fifty day moving average price of $91.16 and a 200 day moving average price of $89.23.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last released its earnings results on Thursday, May 1st. The utilities provider reported $1.23 EPS for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.20 by $0.03. Southern had a net margin of 16.54% and a return on equity of 12.70%. The company had revenue of $7.78 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts' expectations of $7.17 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business earned $1.03 EPS. The business's revenue was up 17.0% on a year-over-year basis. Sell-side analysts predict that Southern will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date is Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.11%. Southern's dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 70.64%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other Southern 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company's stock, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Institutional Inflows and Outflows

A hedge fund recently raised its stake in Southern stock. Empowered Funds LLC boosted its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 17.5% during the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 34,003 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,067 shares during the period. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $3,127,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

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.

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