Childress Capital Advisors LLC Has $594,000 Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Childress Capital Advisors LLC raised its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 19.1% during the 2nd quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The firm owned 6,467 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 1,038 shares during the quarter. Childress Capital Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $594,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Other hedge funds have also recently added to or reduced their stakes in the company. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 35.8% in the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,672,000 after buying an additional 30,618 shares during the period. Investors Research Corp raised its position in shares of Southern by 1,982.6% during the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,000 after purchasing an additional 5,353 shares during the period. Czech National Bank raised its position in shares of Southern by 6.8% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,670,000 after purchasing an additional 17,111 shares during the period. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern during the second quarter worth about $2,352,000. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 23.2% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after purchasing an additional 4,005 shares during the period. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 0.9%

NYSE:SO opened at $94.78 on Wednesday. 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 company has a market cap of $104.26 billion, a PE ratio of 24.37, a PEG ratio of 3.25 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 stock has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.50 and a 200 day simple moving average of $91.38.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data 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 firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. On average, sell-side analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a $0.74 dividend. 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 (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of equities research analysts have recently commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Jefferies Financial Group raised Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and dropped their price target for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Raymond James Financial started coverage on Southern in a research report on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank raised their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Finally, Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research report on Saturday, August 2nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.08.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available through this link. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by corporate insiders.

About Southern

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.