Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Birchbrook Inc.

Birchbrook Inc. cut its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 38.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The firm owned 632 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 400 shares during the quarter. Birchbrook Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $58,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern by 0.7% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management grew its holdings in Southern by 1.1% during the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 23.0% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.9% in the 1st quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $788,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Activity at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’s 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 transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $92.11 on Friday. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $96.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $101.33 billion, a PE ratio of 23.68, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.41. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.51 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.10.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $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. On average, sell-side analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 76.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. Scotiabank lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Barclays raised their target price 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. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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 Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Mizuho raised their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $94.92.

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.