New Hampshire Trust Buys 393 Shares of Southern Company (The) $SO

New Hampshire Trust raised its position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 11.1% during the second quarter, according to its most recent 13F filing with the SEC. The fund owned 3,936 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after buying an additional 393 shares during the period. New Hampshire Trust’s holdings in Southern were worth $361,000 as of its most recent filing with the SEC.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in SO. Ameriflex Group Inc. raised its stake in Southern by 275.0% during the 2nd quarter. Ameriflex Group Inc. now owns 300 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $27,000 after buying an additional 220 shares during the period. Cheviot Value Management LLC bought a new stake in shares of Southern in the first quarter worth about $28,000. Advantage Trust Co raised its position in shares of Southern by 1,428.6% during the second quarter. Advantage Trust Co now owns 321 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $29,000 after purchasing an additional 300 shares during the period. Financial Connections Group Inc. bought a new position in shares of Southern during the 1st quarter valued at about $33,000. Finally, Accredited Wealth Management LLC acquired a new position in shares of Southern in the 1st quarter valued at approximately $36,000. 64.10% of the stock is owned by institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

Several analysts have commented on SO shares. BMO Capital Markets raised their target price on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. KeyCorp raised their price objective on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a report on Wednesday, October 15th. Mizuho upped their target price on shares of Southern from $93.00 to $95.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a research note on Friday, August 1st. UBS Group increased their target price on Southern from $100.00 to $104.00 and gave the stock a “neutral” rating in a report on Friday, October 10th. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on Southern in a research report on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price objective for the company. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, ten have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat.com, the company currently has an average rating of “Hold” and a consensus target price of $99.30.

Southern Trading Down 0.3%

Southern stock opened at $95.86 on Friday. The company has a market cap of $105.45 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.64, a P/E/G ratio of 3.39 and a beta of 0.43. The firm has a 50-day moving average of $94.25 and a 200-day moving average of $92.28. 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 Company has a one year low of $80.46 and a one year high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last released its earnings results on Thursday, July 31st. The utilities provider reported $0.91 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing the consensus estimate of $0.99 by ($0.08). The company had revenue of $6.97 billion for 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%.The business’s revenue was up 7.9% on a year-over-year basis. During the same quarter in the previous 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 expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 earnings per share for the current fiscal year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The company 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. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s payout ratio is presently 76.09%.

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.