Genesis Private Wealth LLC Sells 362 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Genesis Private Wealth LLC cut its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The firm owned 3,498 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 362 shares during the period. Genesis Private Wealth LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $321,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Several other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the first 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. Northern Trust Corp boosted its position in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the first quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,003,419,000 after purchasing an additional 107,394 shares in the last quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 1.2% in the first quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $614,297,000 after acquiring an additional 81,066 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the first quarter worth $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. boosted its holdings in Southern by 4.1% in the first quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $280,107,000 after acquiring an additional 120,816 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

Several research firms have commented on SO. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a report on Thursday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial began coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 target price on the stock. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their target price on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Wall Street Zen downgraded Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued 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 $95.08.

Southern Stock Up 0.9%

SO stock opened at $94.54 on Monday. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The business has a fifty day moving average price of $93.54 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.00 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the firm earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction on 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 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.