Linscomb Wealth Inc. Sells 2,566 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Linscomb Wealth Inc. lessened its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 23.6% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 8,309 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 2,566 shares during the period. Linscomb Wealth Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $763,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of SO. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its holdings in shares of Southern by 125.4% during the 1st 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 in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,789,000 after acquiring an additional 623,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Southern by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,253,000 after acquiring an additional 499,996 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Performance

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $94.20 on Friday. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $94.28 and a 200 day moving average price of $92.47. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $100.83. 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 stock has a market capitalization of $103.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 EPS for the quarter, beating the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The firm had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the firm posted $1.39 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% compared to the same quarter last year. Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.300-4.30 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.540-0.540 EPS. Analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several research reports. KeyCorp boosted their target price on Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. UBS Group boosted their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Southern in a report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price on the stock. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have assigned a Buy rating, eleven have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.66.

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.