Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Acquired by SWAN Capital LLC

SWAN Capital LLC increased its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% in the first quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The fund owned 18,525 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 146 shares during the period. Southern comprises 0.8% of SWAN Capital LLC’s portfolio, making the stock its 23rd largest holding. SWAN Capital LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,703,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Investors Research Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 400.0% in the first quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 270 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,000 after buying an additional 216 shares during the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $36,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at about $40,000. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several recent analyst reports. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group upgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and lowered their price target for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. BMO Capital Markets lifted 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. Scotiabank lifted their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Five investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $94.92.

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 value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

Southern Stock Up 0.4%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $91.54 on Thursday. 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 Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $100.69 billion, a P/E ratio of 23.53, a PEG ratio of 3.15 and a beta of 0.41. The stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.48 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.07.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates 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 firm’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company earned $1.10 EPS. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

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.