Windle Wealth LLC Grows Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Windle Wealth LLC raised its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.2% during the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 89,931 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,037 shares during the period. Southern comprises about 4.0% of Windle Wealth LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 7th biggest position. Windle Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,258,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $2,352,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 35.8% in the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,672,000 after purchasing an additional 30,618 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 1,982.6% in the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $516,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Czech National Bank lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 6.8% in the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,670,000 after purchasing an additional 17,111 shares during the period. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its stake in shares of Southern by 23.2% in the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent analyst reports. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Mizuho upped their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.77.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of Southern stock opened at $96.17 on Thursday. The company has a market cap of $105.79 billion, a PE ratio of 24.72, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.33 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $96.79. The business has a 50 day moving average price of $93.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.59. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 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 analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The business’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period last 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. Equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 76.09%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other 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 value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

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.