Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. Acquires 1,777 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Ranch Capital Advisors Inc. lifted its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 7.6% in the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the SEC. The firm owned 25,132 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 1,777 shares during the period. Ranch Capital Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $2,308,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other large investors have also recently modified their holdings of SO. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 1.4% in the first quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 125.4% in the first quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its holdings in shares of Southern by 40.5% in the first quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,789,000 after purchasing an additional 623,417 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its holdings in Southern by 71.4% during the second quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,253,000 after buying an additional 499,996 shares during the period. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of analysts have weighed in on the company. TD Cowen assumed coverage on Southern in a report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 target price for the company. Mizuho upped their target price on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, August 1st. Barclays set a $70.00 target price on Southern in a report on Tuesday, October 14th. UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their target price on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Thursday, August 21st. 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 given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.30.

Southern Price Performance

NYSE SO opened at $95.86 on Friday. 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 stock’s fifty day moving average price is $94.25 and its 200 day moving average price is $92.24. Southern Company has a 1 year low of $80.46 and a 1 year high of $100.83. The company has a market cap of $105.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a PEG ratio of 3.40 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 (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 firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. Southern’s 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, equities research analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be given a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend 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.