Southern Company (The) $SO Shares Acquired by Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent disclosure with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The firm owned 94,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 800 shares during the quarter. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Nuveen LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after buying an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in 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 worth $124,059,000 after buying an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in Southern by 40.5% during the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,789,000 after buying an additional 623,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its holdings in Southern by 71.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,253,000 after buying an additional 499,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages recently weighed in on SO. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Mizuho raised their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Weiss Ratings reaffirmed a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI started coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They issued an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Finally, Barclays raised 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. Four investment 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’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.31.

Insider Activity

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern 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 owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is owned by company insiders.

Southern Trading Up 2.2%

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $98.23 on Monday. The firm has a fifty day moving average of $93.62 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $98.36. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its earnings results 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). The company 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%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. 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 analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 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.