Apexium Financial LP Purchases 334 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Apexium Financial LP grew its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 5.9% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 5,957 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after acquiring an additional 334 shares during the quarter. Apexium Financial LP’s holdings in Southern were worth $547,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Quent Capital LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 17.9% during the 2nd quarter. Quent Capital LLC now owns 4,608 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $423,000 after acquiring an additional 699 shares during the last quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 3.9% during the 2nd quarter. Hennessy Advisors Inc. now owns 282,900 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $25,979,000 after acquiring an additional 10,600 shares during the last quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 275.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after acquiring an additional 220 shares during the last quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. boosted its position in shares of Southern by 5.8% during the 2nd quarter. ZWJ Investment Counsel Inc. now owns 24,442 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $2,245,000 after acquiring an additional 1,340 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Ascent Group LLC boosted its position in shares of Southern by 6.6% during the 2nd quarter. Ascent Group LLC now owns 10,347 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $950,000 after acquiring an additional 640 shares during the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by institutional investors.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

SO has been the subject of a number of research reports. BMO Capital Markets increased their target price on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Finally, Morgan Stanley lowered their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.08.

Southern Stock Performance

SO stock opened at $94.56 on Friday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The business’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.45 and its two-hundred day simple moving average is $91.47. Southern Company has a twelve month low of $80.46 and a twelve month high of $96.44. The firm has a market cap of $104.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the previous year, the business earned $1.10 EPS. The business’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 predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the firm’s stock in a transaction on 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 transaction, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

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.