Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC Sells 383 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC trimmed its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 8.4% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 4,176 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 383 shares during the period. Relyea Zuckerberg Hanson LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $383,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter worth about $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after acquiring an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. raised its holdings in shares of Southern by 125.4% during the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Southern by 2,780.2% during the first quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $64,423,000 after purchasing an additional 676,302 shares during the period. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 40.5% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,789,000 after purchasing an additional 623,417 shares during the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 1.0%

NYSE SO opened at $95.46 on Tuesday. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $96.44. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The company has a market capitalization of $105.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.54, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50-day moving average price is $93.47 and its 200-day moving average price is $91.52.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue 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. On average, equities research analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern’s payout ratio is 76.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Mizuho increased their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Scotiabank reaffirmed a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $95.77.

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.