Pinnacle Associates Ltd. Reduces Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Pinnacle Associates Ltd. lessened its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.1% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The institutional investor owned 122,058 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,202 shares during the period. Pinnacle Associates Ltd.’s holdings in Southern were worth $11,209,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after buying an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp boosted its stake in Southern by 1.0% in the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,003,419,000 after buying an additional 107,394 shares during the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. grew its holdings 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 purchasing an additional 81,066 shares during the period. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its position in Southern by 4.1% during 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 during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $94.20 on Friday. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $94.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.47. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market cap of $103.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.300-4.30 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.540-0.540 EPS. On average, analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts recently issued reports on the company. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. BTIG Research began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Wall Street Zen downgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 target price on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.66.

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.