Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. Sells 172 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc. cut its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 19.9% during the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The institutional investor owned 693 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 172 shares during the period. Hazlett Burt & Watson Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $63,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the business. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 1.0% in the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after acquiring an additional 107,394 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 1.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,297,000 after acquiring an additional 81,066 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 4.1% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,107,000 after acquiring an additional 120,816 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Down 0.1%

NYSE SO opened at $98.15 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.67 and a two-hundred day simple moving average of $91.79. The stock has a market cap of $107.97 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.23, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $98.42. 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) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 EPS. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. 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 forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on SO shares. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their target price on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group raised their price target on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.31.

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.