Jacobsen Capital Management Grows Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Jacobsen Capital Management lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 18.2% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,916 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 448 shares during the quarter. Jacobsen Capital Management’s holdings in Southern were worth $268,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Northern Trust Corp raised its stake in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the 1st quarter. Northern Trust Corp now owns 10,912,663 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,003,419,000 after buying an additional 107,394 shares during the period. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1.2% during the 1st quarter. Charles Schwab Investment Management Inc. now owns 6,680,776 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $614,297,000 after buying an additional 81,066 shares in the last quarter. Nuveen LLC acquired a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at $510,229,000. Finally, Federated Hermes Inc. grew its stake in Southern by 4.1% in the 1st quarter. Federated Hermes Inc. now owns 3,046,293 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $280,107,000 after acquiring an additional 120,816 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors and hedge funds.

Southern Trading Down 0.8%

SO opened at $96.96 on Wednesday. The firm has a market capitalization of $106.66 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.92, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.46 and a beta of 0.43. The company’s 50 day simple moving average is $94.12 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $92.08. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings results 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). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter last year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. Southern’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. Analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several research firms have issued reports on SO. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased 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. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reaffirmed a “neutral” rating and issued a $102.50 price target (up from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 17th. UBS Group lifted their price objective on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on Southern in a report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Finally, Cowen began coverage on Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 15th. They issued a “buy” rating on the stock. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $98.83.

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.