Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund Has $8.72 Million Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund lifted its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 0.8% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund owned 94,970 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 800 shares during the period. Oregon Public Employees Retirement Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $8,721,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also modified their holdings of the company. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. acquired a new stake in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter valued at $2,352,000. Intech Investment Management LLC lifted its position in Southern by 35.8% during the 1st quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $10,672,000 after acquiring an additional 30,618 shares during the last quarter. Investors Research Corp lifted its position in Southern by 1,982.6% during the 2nd quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,000 after acquiring an additional 5,353 shares during the last quarter. Czech National Bank lifted its position in Southern by 6.8% during the 2nd quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $24,670,000 after acquiring an additional 17,111 shares during the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC lifted its position in Southern by 23.2% during the 1st quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 21,253 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,954,000 after acquiring an additional 4,005 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors and hedge funds own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of research analysts have weighed in on the stock. Weiss Ratings reissued a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Wednesday, October 8th. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 target price for the company. Mizuho boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. BMO Capital Markets boosted their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, October 3rd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. Based on data from MarketBeat, the company presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.31.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the company’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Monday, July 21st. The stock was sold at an average price of $95.00, for a total value of $1,250,010.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. This represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Southern Stock Up 2.2%

Shares of SO opened at $98.23 on Monday. The company has a 50-day simple moving average of $93.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.74. The firm has a market capitalization of $108.06 billion, a P/E ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. 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 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $98.36.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The firm’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 EPS. Southern has set its Q3 2025 guidance at 1.500-1.500 EPS. FY 2025 guidance at 4.200-4.300 EPS. On average, equities research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current 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 issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

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.