USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC Cuts Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC lessened its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 10.2% in the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent 13F filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 2,989 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 338 shares during the period. USAdvisors Wealth Management LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $274,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

Other institutional investors and hedge funds have also recently modified their holdings of the company. Intech Investment Management LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 30,618 shares in the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern during the 2nd quarter worth approximately $2,352,000. Investors Research Corp increased its stake 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 buying an additional 5,353 shares in the last quarter. Czech National Bank increased its stake 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 buying an additional 17,111 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake 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 buying an additional 4,005 shares in the last quarter. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.7%

SO opened at $94.56 on Friday. 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 PE ratio of 24.31, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.43. The business’s 50 day moving average price is $93.45 and its 200 day moving average price is $91.47. 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 (NYSE:SO) last released 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). Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The business had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. During the same quarter in the prior year, the company posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’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 expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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

Insider Buying and Selling

In related 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 transaction, 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 ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is accessible through this link. Corporate insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

SO has been the subject of several research reports. Mizuho boosted their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Wall Street Zen cut Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a report on Saturday, August 2nd. Scotiabank restated a “sector perform” rating and set a $99.00 target price on shares of Southern in a report on Friday. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a report on Saturday, September 27th. Finally, Barclays boosted their target price on Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the stock an “equal weight” rating in a report on Wednesday, July 16th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the company presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $95.08.

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.