Concord Asset Management LLC VA Acquires 5,323 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Concord Asset Management LLC VA lifted its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 13.6% during the 2nd quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the SEC. The fund owned 44,504 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 5,323 shares during the period. Concord Asset Management LLC VA’s holdings in Southern were worth $4,087,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

Several other institutional investors and hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Nuveen LLC bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. boosted its position in Southern by 1.4% during the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $9,582,126,000 after buying an additional 1,419,724 shares during the period. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. boosted its position in Southern by 125.4% during the 1st 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 buying an additional 750,500 shares during the period. Jennison Associates LLC boosted its position in Southern by 40.5% during the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $198,789,000 after buying an additional 623,417 shares during the period. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. boosted its position in Southern by 71.4% during the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $110,253,000 after buying an additional 499,996 shares during the period. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Insider Transactions at Southern

In related news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of Southern stock in a transaction dated 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 completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer directly owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. This trade represents a 12.32% decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a legal filing with the SEC, which is available at this hyperlink. 0.16% of the stock is currently owned by company insiders.

Analyst Ratings Changes

Several equities research analysts have weighed in on the stock. UBS Group increased their price target on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price target for the company. Barclays increased 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. BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the company an “outperform” rating in a research report on Tuesday, July 22nd. Finally, Morgan Stanley dropped 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, September 25th. Four equities research analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, nine have assigned a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus price target of $96.31.

Southern Trading Up 2.2%

NYSE:SO opened at $98.23 on Monday. The company has a 50-day moving average price of $93.62 and a 200-day moving average price of $91.74. Southern Company has a 12 month low of $80.46 and a 12 month high of $98.36. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. The stock has a market cap of $108.06 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.25, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 EPS for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.10 earnings per share. The company’s revenue for the quarter 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. Equities analysts predict that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, September 8th. Investors of record on Monday, August 18th were given a dividend of $0.74 per share. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.0%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is 76.09%.

Southern 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.