Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC Trims Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC reduced its stake in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 1.2% in the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 12,298 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 145 shares during the period. Firethorn Wealth Partners LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,129,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission.

Several other institutional investors also recently bought and sold shares of the stock. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 0.7% during the first quarter. Miracle Mile Advisors LLC now owns 15,928 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $1,465,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management raised its position in Southern by 1.1% during the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $922,000 after acquiring an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. West Branch Capital LLC raised its position in Southern by 23.0% during the first quarter. West Branch Capital LLC now owns 616 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $57,000 after acquiring an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. PFW Advisors LLC raised its position in Southern by 1.9% during the first quarter. PFW Advisors LLC now owns 6,114 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $562,000 after acquiring an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. Finally, McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its position 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 valued at $788,000 after buying an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of analysts have recently commented on SO shares. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Saturday, September 27th. BMO Capital Markets boosted their price objective on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Barclays boosted their price objective on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Morgan Stanley cut their price objective 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 research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, the company currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $95.08.

Southern Stock Up 0.7%

Shares of SO opened at $94.56 on Friday. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $96.44. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.02 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.31, a PEG ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43. The stock has a 50 day moving average price of $93.45 and a 200 day moving average price of $91.47.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The firm 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 firm posted $1.10 earnings per share. The firm’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The business also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Shareholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s payout ratio is 76.09%.

Insiders Place Their Bets

In other Southern news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’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 of the company’s stock, 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 filing with the SEC, which is accessible through the SEC website. Company insiders own 0.16% 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.