Sigma Planning Corp Has $4.37 Million Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Sigma Planning Corp decreased its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.9% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 47,576 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 5,202 shares during the period. Sigma Planning Corp’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,369,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the company. State of Michigan Retirement System grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 0.5% during the second quarter. State of Michigan Retirement System now owns 298,823 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,441,000 after purchasing an additional 1,600 shares during the last quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 4.2% during the second quarter. iA Global Asset Management Inc. now owns 227,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $20,928,000 after purchasing an additional 9,154 shares during the last quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 2.1% during the second quarter. Gilbert & Cook Inc. now owns 10,712 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $984,000 after purchasing an additional 217 shares during the last quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC grew its holdings in shares of Southern by 19.5% during the second quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after purchasing an additional 454 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Longbow Finance SA bought a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth about $6,752,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

Several research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. KeyCorp boosted their price target on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Wall Street Zen cut Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Wednesday, October 8th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One investment 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 assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $99.66.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $93.19 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $102.51 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 23.96, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $100.83. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.28 and its two-hundred day moving average price is $92.50. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74.

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

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 73.27%.

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.