Southern (NYSE:SO) Updates FY 2025 Earnings Guidance

Southern (NYSE:SO) issued an update on its FY 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 4.200-4.300 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 4.310. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Southern also updated its Q1 2025 guidance to 1.200-1.200 EPS.

Southern Trading Up 0.7 %

Shares of Southern stock traded up $0.62 during trading hours on Friday, hitting $88.44. The company’s stock had a trading volume of 2,147,508 shares, compared to its average volume of 5,030,806. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $96.91 billion, a PE ratio of 20.58, a P/E/G ratio of 2.95 and a beta of 0.53. The business has a fifty day moving average of $83.59 and a 200 day moving average of $86.81. Southern has a 1-year low of $65.99 and a 1-year high of $94.45.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. The company had revenue of $6.34 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $5.90 billion. As a group, equities analysts forecast that Southern will post 4.05 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.26%. The ex-dividend date is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 66.98%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have recently issued reports on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 1st. Morgan Stanley dropped their price target on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research note on Friday, November 22nd. Guggenheim cut shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, January 23rd. Scotiabank lifted their target price on Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “sector outperform” rating in a research report on Thursday, December 12th. Finally, Mizuho increased their price target on Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, February 3rd. One investment analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In other news, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total value of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now directly owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at approximately $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this hyperlink. Also, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the stock in a transaction dated Tuesday, February 11th. The stock was sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total transaction of $1,250,440.00. Following the sale, the chief executive officer now owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. This trade represents a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Insiders own 0.18% 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.