Greenleaf Trust Trims Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Greenleaf Trust decreased its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 22.5% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the SEC. The firm owned 23,123 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 6,728 shares during the period. Greenleaf Trust’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,123,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $36,000. Rossby Financial LCC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $39,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of research firms have weighed in on SO. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Thursday, September 25th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Barclays raised their target price on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Four research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is accessible through this link. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of SO stock opened at $94.78 on Wednesday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.50 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.38. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $96.44. 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 company has a market cap of $104.26 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.25 and a beta of 0.41.

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 firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for 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%. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $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. As a group, equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 76.09%.

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.