iA Global Asset Management Inc. Boosts Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

iA Global Asset Management Inc. raised its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.2% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The firm owned 227,902 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 9,154 shares during the period. iA Global Asset Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $20,928,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other large investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern by 275.0% during the second quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after purchasing an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Advantage Trust Co lifted its holdings in Southern by 1,428.6% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares in the last quarter. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Barclays set a $70.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, KeyCorp lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the company an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. One research 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 assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.66.

Southern Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of SO opened at $94.20 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average is $94.28 and its 200 day moving average is $92.48. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $103.62 billion, a PE ratio of 24.21, a P/E/G ratio of 3.31 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 results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, topping the consensus estimate of $1.51 by $0.09. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.39 earnings per share. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.300-4.30 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.540-0.540 EPS. Sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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