Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC Trims Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC lowered its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 17.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 4,980 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,030 shares during the period. Gratus Wealth Advisors LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $457,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 14.4% during the first quarter. Thurston Springer Miller Herd & Titak Inc. now owns 1,479 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $136,000 after purchasing an additional 186 shares during the period. Vest Financial LLC raised its position in shares of Southern by 73.5% during the 1st quarter. Vest Financial LLC now owns 26,838 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,468,000 after buying an additional 11,368 shares during the period. Sivia Capital Partners LLC lifted its holdings in Southern by 4.6% in the first quarter. Sivia Capital Partners LLC now owns 3,275 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $301,000 after acquiring an additional 144 shares during the last quarter. Wedmont Private Capital lifted its holdings in Southern by 5.3% in the first quarter. Wedmont Private Capital now owns 17,055 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,533,000 after acquiring an additional 852 shares during the last quarter. Finally, ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC grew its position in Southern by 2.3% in the first quarter. ARS Wealth Advisors Group LLC now owns 98,800 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,085,000 after acquiring an additional 2,255 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was 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 accessible through this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of research firms have commented on SO. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. boosted their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, June 13th. They set an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 target price for the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Barclays increased their price objective on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four investment analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.08.

Southern Price Performance

SO stock opened at $94.56 on Monday. The business’s 50-day moving average is $93.45 and its two-hundred day moving average is $91.48. 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 firm has a market capitalization of $104.01 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $96.44.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its 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 net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same period last year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The firm’s revenue 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. Analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business 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. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. 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.