Wealth Management Associates Inc. Sells 730 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Wealth Management Associates Inc. cut its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 13.2% in the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 4,793 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 730 shares during the period. Wealth Management Associates Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $441,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of the company. Investors Research Corp grew its holdings 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 acquiring an additional 216 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $39,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction 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 trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is owned by insiders.

Southern Price Performance

Southern stock opened at $91.54 on Thursday. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $96.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.48 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.07. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The firm 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.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. As a group, equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current 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 issued 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 (DPR) is presently 76.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several equities analysts have weighed in on SO shares. Morgan Stanley reissued an “outperform” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays increased their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Scotiabank increased their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their price objective for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Finally, Raymond James Financial started coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price objective for the company. Five equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $94.92.

Southern Company 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.