Godsey & Gibb Inc. Reduces Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Godsey & Gibb Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 3.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,703 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 155 shares during the period. Godsey & Gibb Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $432,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other large investors have also made changes to their positions in the stock. Intech Investment Management LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 35.8% in the 1st 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 period. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,352,000. Investors Research Corp boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1,982.6% in the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Czech National Bank boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.8% in the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,670,000 after purchasing an additional 17,111 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its position in Southern by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after buying an additional 4,005 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $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 available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley reduced their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.77.

Southern Trading Up 1.0%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $95.46 on Tuesday. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.44. The company has a market capitalization of $105.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $93.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.52. 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) last released its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $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. Sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Southern 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.