Sonora Investment Management Group LLC Buys 307 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Sonora Investment Management Group LLC increased its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 4.0% in the second quarter, according to the company in its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission (SEC). The institutional investor owned 7,947 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 307 shares during the period. Sonora Investment Management Group LLC’s holdings in Southern were worth $730,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in SO. Two Sigma Investments LP bought a new position in shares of Southern during the fourth quarter valued at approximately $1,284,000. Versant Capital Management Inc increased its stake in shares of Southern by 99.8% during the first quarter. Versant Capital Management Inc now owns 2,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $232,000 after purchasing an additional 1,260 shares in the last quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division increased its stake in shares of Southern by 7.5% during the first quarter. Moody National Bank Trust Division now owns 5,676 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $522,000 after purchasing an additional 398 shares in the last quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc increased its stake in shares of Southern by 19.8% during the first quarter. AdvisorNet Financial Inc now owns 9,522 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $876,000 after purchasing an additional 1,573 shares in the last quarter. Finally, GAMMA Investing LLC increased its stake in shares of Southern by 11,230.1% during the first quarter. GAMMA Investing LLC now owns 1,954,213 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $179,690,000 after purchasing an additional 1,936,965 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Up 0.9%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $94.54 on Friday. The company’s fifty day simple moving average is $93.54 and its 200-day simple moving average is $91.32. The stock has a market capitalization of $104.00 billion, a PE ratio of 24.30, a P/E/G ratio of 3.27 and a beta of 0.41. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $96.44. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last issued its quarterly earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company’s revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same quarter in the prior year, the business earned $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. As a group, equities analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders of record on Monday, August 18th were paid a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Insider Buying and Selling at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction on Monday, July 21st. The shares were 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 in the company, valued at approximately $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their position. The transaction was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this link. Company insiders own 0.16% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. Scotiabank raised their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $99.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. Morgan Stanley reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a research report on Thursday. JPMorgan Chase & Co. raised their price target on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. Barclays raised their price target on shares of Southern from $90.00 to $91.00 and gave the company an “equal weight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, July 16th. Finally, Jefferies Financial Group raised shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “buy” rating and cut their target price for the stock from $102.00 to $100.00 in a research report on Thursday, June 5th. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, eight have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat, the stock currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $95.08.

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.