Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. Reduces Stock Position in Southern Company (The) $SO

Cullen Frost Bankers Inc. reduced its holdings in shares of Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 7.8% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 7,392 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 622 shares during the quarter. Cullen Frost Bankers Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $679,000 at the end of the most recent quarter.

A number of other institutional investors also recently modified their holdings of SO. Nuveen LLC purchased a new stake in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at approximately $510,229,000. Vanguard Group Inc. lifted its stake in Southern by 1.4% in the 1st quarter. Vanguard Group Inc. now owns 104,210,177 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $9,582,126,000 after purchasing an additional 1,419,724 shares in the last quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. lifted its stake in Southern by 125.4% in the 1st quarter. Adage Capital Partners GP L.L.C. now owns 1,349,200 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $124,059,000 after purchasing an additional 750,500 shares in the last quarter. Jennison Associates LLC lifted its stake in Southern by 40.5% in the 1st quarter. Jennison Associates LLC now owns 2,161,929 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $198,789,000 after purchasing an additional 623,417 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Assenagon Asset Management S.A. lifted its stake in Southern by 71.4% in the 2nd quarter. Assenagon Asset Management S.A. now owns 1,200,624 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $110,253,000 after purchasing an additional 499,996 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Southern Price Performance

Shares of NYSE:SO opened at $95.86 on Friday. The company’s fifty day moving average price is $94.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.24. The firm has a market capitalization of $105.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a PEG ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. Southern Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $100.83. 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 EPS for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.99 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion during the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.09% and a net margin of 15.10%.Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period in the previous year, the company 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. On average, equities research analysts anticipate that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Announces Dividend

The firm also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be issued a dividend of $0.74 per share. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 annualized dividend and a dividend yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is currently 76.09%.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

Several analysts have issued reports on the stock. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “neutral” rating and issued a $102.50 target price (up from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 17th. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Tuesday. They issued a “neutral” rating on the stock. UBS Group increased their target price on shares of Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, October 10th. JPMorgan Chase & Co. increased their target price 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. Finally, Wall Street Zen cut shares of Southern from a “hold” rating to a “sell” rating in a research note on Saturday, August 2nd. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, ten have assigned a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the company has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.30.

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.