JNBA Financial Advisors Increases Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

JNBA Financial Advisors lifted its position in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 188.8% during the 2nd quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The fund owned 1,262 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 825 shares during the period. JNBA Financial Advisors’ holdings in Southern were worth $116,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Several other institutional investors have also modified their holdings of the company. Ameriflex Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 275.0% in the 2nd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $27,000 after buying an additional 220 shares in the last quarter. Cheviot Value Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $28,000. Financial Connections Group Inc. purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $33,000. Accredited Wealth Management LLC purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. Finally, Saudi Central Bank purchased a new stake in Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $40,000. Hedge funds and other institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Analyst Ratings Changes

SO has been the topic of a number of recent research reports. UBS Group upped their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday. Wall Street Zen lowered Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. Raymond James Financial assumed coverage on Southern in a report on Friday, June 13th. They issued an “outperform” rating and a $98.00 price target for the company. Morgan Stanley cut their price target on Southern from $94.00 to $92.00 and set an “equal weight” rating for the company in a report on Thursday, September 25th. Finally, BMO Capital Markets boosted their price target on Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Four analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $96.31.

Southern Trading Up 2.2%

SO stock opened at $98.23 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $108.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a PEG ratio of 3.32 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a quick ratio of 0.54, a current ratio of 0.74 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The business has a fifty day simple moving average of $93.62 and a 200-day simple moving average of $91.71. Southern Company has a 52 week low of $80.46 and a 52 week high of $98.36.

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). The firm had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous year, the company earned $1.10 earnings per share. 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 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The company also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Stockholders 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 dividend yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

Insider Activity at Southern

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

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.