Freedom Investment Management Inc. Decreases Stake in Southern Company (The) $SO

Freedom Investment Management Inc. reduced its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 6.6% during the second quarter, Holdings Channel.com reports. The institutional investor owned 9,401 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 668 shares during the period. Freedom Investment Management Inc.’s holdings in Southern were worth $863,000 at the end of the most recent reporting period.

Other hedge funds also recently made changes to their positions in the company. Equitable Trust Co. lifted its position in shares of Southern by 24.7% in the second quarter. Equitable Trust Co. now owns 34,527 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $3,171,000 after buying an additional 6,843 shares in the last quarter. Klein Pavlis & Peasley Financial Inc. purchased a new stake in shares of Southern in the second quarter worth about $2,352,000. Investors Research Corp lifted its position in shares of Southern by 1,982.6% in the second quarter. Investors Research Corp now owns 5,623 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $516,000 after buying an additional 5,353 shares in the last quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC raised its position in Southern by 35.8% during the first quarter. Intech Investment Management LLC now owns 116,059 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $10,672,000 after purchasing an additional 30,618 shares during the period. Finally, Czech National Bank raised its position in Southern by 6.8% during the second quarter. Czech National Bank now owns 268,648 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $24,670,000 after purchasing an additional 17,111 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is currently owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of equities research analysts have issued reports on SO shares. Mizuho upped their price objective on Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Friday, August 1st. Evercore ISI started coverage on Southern in a research report on Monday, October 6th. They set an “in-line” rating and a $103.00 price objective on the stock. BTIG Research started coverage on Southern in a research report on Tuesday. They set a “neutral” rating on the stock. Weiss Ratings restated a “buy (b)” rating on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday. Finally, JPMorgan Chase & Co. upped their price objective on Southern from $97.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Thursday, August 21st. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, ten have given a Hold rating and one has issued a Sell rating to the stock. According to MarketBeat.com, Southern currently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.30.

Southern Trading Down 0.3%

SO opened at $95.86 on Friday. The stock has a market cap of $105.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.40 and a beta of 0.43. The stock’s 50 day moving average price is $94.25 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.24. 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 quick ratio of 0.54 and a current ratio of 0.74.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its 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 business had revenue of $6.97 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $6.70 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company’s quarterly revenue was up 7.9% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the company posted $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 analysts forecast that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

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