First United Bank & Trust Grows Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

First United Bank & Trust lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 23,224 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,272 shares during the period. First United Bank & Trust’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,133,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Robbins Farley grew its holdings in Southern by 2.4% in the second quarter. Robbins Farley now owns 33,219 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $3,051,000 after purchasing an additional 765 shares during the period. Park Place Capital Corp grew its stake in Southern by 17.4% in the 2nd quarter. Park Place Capital Corp now owns 4,672 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $431,000 after acquiring an additional 692 shares during the period. XML Financial LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 3.7% during the second quarter. XML Financial LLC now owns 16,566 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,521,000 after purchasing an additional 590 shares in the last quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 2.4% in the second quarter. Capital Investment Advisors LLC now owns 606,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $55,732,000 after purchasing an additional 14,020 shares during the period. Finally, Presper Financial Architects LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth about $200,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and reduced their target price for the company from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Scotiabank raised their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays lifted their price target on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased 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. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.08.

Southern Trading Down 0.8%

SO opened at $93.79 on Tuesday. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.18 billion, a PE ratio of 24.11, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $96.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $93.52 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.36.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its 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 net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. 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 expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

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.