Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Sold by Keudell Morrison Wealth Management

Keudell Morrison Wealth Management lowered its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 12.5% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The firm owned 8,781 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,251 shares during the period. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $806,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently bought and sold shares of SO. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 14.4% in the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,000 after acquiring an additional 186 shares in the last quarter. Vest Financial LLC lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 26,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,468,000 after acquiring an additional 11,368 shares in the last quarter. Foster Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 1st quarter worth $236,000. Curat Global LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $49,000. Finally, Constitution Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 16.0% in the first quarter. Constitution Capital LLC now owns 13,020 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,197,000 after purchasing an additional 1,800 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.7%

SO stock opened at $94.56 on Friday. 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 firm has a 50 day simple moving average of $93.45 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.47. The company has a market capitalization of $104.02 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $96.44.

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 the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during 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 company’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several brokerages have recently weighed in on SO. BMO Capital Markets upped their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.08.

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.