Values First Advisors Inc. Acquires 657 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

Values First Advisors Inc. lifted its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 9.7% in the second quarter, Holdings Channel reports. The fund owned 7,425 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after purchasing an additional 657 shares during the quarter. Values First Advisors Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $682,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

Other institutional investors have also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.1% during the first quarter. Keudell Morrison Wealth Management now owns 10,032 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $922,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.4% during the first quarter. McGlone Suttner Wealth Management Inc. now owns 8,565 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $788,000 after purchasing an additional 116 shares in the last quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 1.0% during the second quarter. KPP Advisory Services LLC now owns 11,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,046,000 after purchasing an additional 117 shares in the last quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 4.4% during the first quarter. MBE Wealth Management LLC now owns 2,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $260,000 after purchasing an additional 118 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC increased its position in shares of Southern by 0.4% during the first quarter. Coastal Bridge Advisors LLC now owns 32,627 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,000,000 after purchasing an additional 119 shares in the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Wall Street Analysts Forecast Growth

A number of brokerages have recently issued reports on SO. Barclays set a $70.00 price target on Southern in a research report on Tuesday. Weiss Ratings reiterated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, October 8th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, August 21st. Evercore ISI assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective for the company. Finally, BMO Capital Markets lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a research note on Tuesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, five have assigned a Buy rating, nine have issued a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $98.57.

Southern Stock Down 1.3%

SO opened at $98.44 on Friday. Southern Company has a fifty-two week low of $80.46 and a fifty-two week high of $100.84. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74. The company has a fifty day moving average of $93.94 and a two-hundred day moving average of $91.95. The stock has a market capitalization of $108.29 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 25.31, a PEG ratio of 3.53 and a beta of 0.43.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share 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 firm had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to analysts’ expectations of $6.70 billion. During the same period in the previous year, the firm posted $1.10 EPS. The firm’s quarterly 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. On average, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently announced 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. The ex-dividend date of this dividend was Monday, August 18th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a dividend yield of 3.0%. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 76.09%.

Insider Activity at Southern

In other news, CEO Kimberly S. Greene sold 13,158 shares of the business’s 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 sale, the chief executive officer owned 93,661 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $8,897,795. The trade was a 12.32% decrease in their ownership of the stock. The transaction was disclosed in a document filed with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which is available at this link. 0.16% of the stock is owned by corporate insiders.

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.