Appleton Partners Inc. MA Cuts Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Appleton Partners Inc. MA decreased its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 18.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 3,423 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 773 shares during the quarter. Appleton Partners Inc. MA’s holdings in Southern were worth $314,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Sivia Capital Partners LLC raised its stake in Southern by 4.6% in the 1st quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $301,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 5.3% during the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 17,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,533,000 after purchasing an additional 852 shares during the period. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 0.7% in the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after buying an additional 110 shares during the last quarter. Bank of New Hampshire increased its holdings in Southern by 11.0% in the 1st quarter. Bank of New Hampshire now owns 3,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $303,000 after buying an additional 325 shares during the period. Finally, Abacus Planning Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the 1st quarter worth approximately $230,000. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,010.00. Following the transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE SO opened at $95.46 on Tuesday. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.47 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.52. 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 company has a market cap of $105.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued 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). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during 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 quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter 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. Research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have recently weighed in on SO. Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, July 16th. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Saturday, September 27th. 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 report on Thursday, August 21st. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.77.

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.