Capital Investment Advisors LLC Buys 14,020 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Capital Investment Advisors LLC boosted its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 2.4% during the 2nd quarter, HoldingsChannel reports. The fund owned 606,899 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 14,020 shares during the quarter. Southern comprises 1.0% of Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s investment portfolio, making the stock its 28th largest position. Capital Investment Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $55,732,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors have also added to or reduced their stakes in SO. Nuveen LLC bought a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its position in Southern by 1.4% during the 1st 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. lifted its position in 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 worth $124,059,000 after buying an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its position in Southern by 2,780.2% during the 1st quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 700,628 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $64,423,000 after buying an additional 676,302 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Jennison Associates LLC lifted its position in Southern by 40.5% during the 1st 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. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the 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 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 transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is available through the SEC website. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $93.79 on Tuesday. The company has a fifty day moving average price of $93.52 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.36. The company has a market capitalization of $103.18 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.11, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. Southern Company has a 52-week low of $80.46 and a 52-week high of $96.44. 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 released its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Southern’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the business posted $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. As a group, equities analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently disclosed 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 3.2%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is 76.09%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of several analyst reports. Scotiabank boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.08.

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.