PDS Planning Inc Has $554,000 Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

PDS Planning Inc lifted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 70.9% in the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 6,034 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 2,504 shares during the period. PDS Planning Inc’s holdings in Southern were worth $554,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Several other large investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,352,000. Intech Investment Management LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,672,000 after acquiring an additional 30,618 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp boosted its holdings in Southern by 1,982.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 5,353 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank boosted its holdings in Southern by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,670,000 after acquiring an additional 17,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 4,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

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

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of equities analysts have issued reports on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective 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 set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BMO Capital Markets lifted their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Evercore ISI started coverage on Southern in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 target price on the stock. Finally, Mizuho lifted their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $96.31.

Southern Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $98.23 on Friday. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $98.36. The stock’s 50-day simple moving average is $93.62 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.73. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (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 firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’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, research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

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.