Southern (NYSE:SO) Updates Q3 2025 Earnings Guidance

Key Points

• Southern Company has updated its Q3 2025 earnings guidance, projecting earnings per share (EPS) between $1.500 and $1.500, slightly below the consensus estimate of $1.509.
• The company has declared a quarterly dividend of $0.74 per share, translating to an annualized yield of 3.11%.
• Several analysts have raised their price targets for Southern Company, with BMO Capital Markets now setting it at $102.00 and Jefferies Financial Group adjusting their target to $100.00.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) issued an update on its third quarter 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided earnings per share guidance of 1.500-1.500 for the period, compared to the consensus earnings per share estimate of 1.509. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Southern also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 4.200-4.300 EPS.

Southern Trading Down 0.2%

Shares of SO stock opened at $95.03 on Thursday. The company's fifty day simple moving average is $91.16 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $89.23. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.86 and a quick ratio of 0.65. Southern has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.44 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 22.68, a PEG ratio of 3.29 and a beta of 0.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO - Get Free Report) last announced its 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. 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 analyst estimates of $7.17 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.03 earnings per share. The firm's quarterly revenue was up 17.0% compared to the same quarter last year. As a group, analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors 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 3.11%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, August 18th. Southern's payout ratio is currently 70.64%.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several equities research analysts recently issued reports on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an "outperform" rating in a research 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. Wells Fargo & Company increased their price target on shares of Southern from $95.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock an "equal weight" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Guggenheim reiterated a "neutral" rating and issued a $93.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. Finally, Evercore ISI increased their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $94.00 and gave the stock an "in-line" rating in a research report on Friday, May 2nd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, ten have issued a hold rating and five have issued a buy rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has a consensus rating of "Hold" and an average price target of $93.53.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business's stock in a transaction 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 directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through the SEC website. 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 raised its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO - Free Report) by 17.5% in the 1st quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 34,003 shares of the utilities provider's stock after acquiring an additional 5,067 shares during the quarter. Empowered Funds LLC's holdings in Southern were worth $3,127,000 at the end of the most recent quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by 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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