Weiss Ratings Reiterates Buy (B) Rating for Southern (NYSE:SO)

Southern (NYSE:SO)‘s stock had its “buy (b)” rating reissued by equities research analysts at Weiss Ratings in a research report issued to clients and investors on Friday,Weiss Ratings reports.

Other analysts also recently issued research reports about the company. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. BTIG Research assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Southern in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target on the stock. Scotiabank reiterated a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, Mizuho boosted their price target on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have given a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company’s stock. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.30.

Southern Stock Down 0.3%

Shares of SO stock opened at $95.86 on Friday. Southern has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The stock’s fifty day moving average price is $94.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.24. 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 company has a market cap of $105.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a price-to-earnings-growth ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced 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). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations 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 last year, the firm earned $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, research analysts expect that Southern will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Hedge Funds Weigh In On Southern

Several institutional investors and hedge funds have recently modified their holdings of SO. Norges Bank acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at about $1,179,715,000. Nuveen LLC purchased a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth approximately $510,229,000. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC boosted its position in Southern by 9,099.6% during the second quarter. Laurel Wealth Advisors LLC now owns 4,421,331 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $406,011,000 after purchasing an additional 4,373,271 shares in the last quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP boosted its position in Southern by 83.8% during the second quarter. Soroban Capital Partners LP now owns 4,097,422 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $376,266,000 after purchasing an additional 1,867,912 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 1.6% during the second quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 105,904,243 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,725,187,000 after purchasing an additional 1,694,066 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% 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.