Alaethes Wealth LLC Makes New $207,000 Investment in Southern Company (The) $SO

Alaethes Wealth LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor bought 2,250 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

Several other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.7% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.1% in the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares during the period. West Branch Capital LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 23.0% in the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $57,000 after purchasing an additional 115 shares during the period. PFW Advisors LLC increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the first quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $562,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Down 0.9%

SO opened at $90.91 on Tuesday. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.49 and its 200 day simple moving average is $91.07. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $96.44. The stock has a market cap of $100.01 billion, a PE ratio of 23.37, a P/E/G ratio of 3.17 and a beta of 0.41.

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 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 business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. The business’s quarterly revenue 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. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.3%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction dated 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 at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several research analysts have recently weighed in on the stock. BMO Capital Markets upped their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Scotiabank upped their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays upped their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Finally, Mizuho upped their price target on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Five analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, seven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, the stock currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $94.92.

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.