2,255 Shares in Southern Company (The) $SO Purchased by Atlas Private Wealth Advisors

Atlas Private Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) during the second quarter, according to its most recent Form 13F filing with the Securities and Exchange Commission. The fund purchased 2,255 shares of the utilities provider’s stock, valued at approximately $207,000.

A number of other hedge funds and other institutional investors also recently made changes to their positions in the stock. Golden State Wealth Management LLC boosted its position in Southern by 18.7% during the first quarter. Golden State Wealth Management LLC now owns 9,155 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $842,000 after purchasing an additional 1,442 shares during the period. Rossby Financial LCC bought a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth about $39,000. Resonant Capital Advisors LLC bought a new position in Southern during the first quarter worth about $245,000. D.A. Davidson & CO. boosted its position in Southern by 3.3% during the first quarter. D.A. Davidson & CO. now owns 73,144 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $6,726,000 after purchasing an additional 2,337 shares during the period. Finally, Silver Oak Securities Incorporated boosted its position in Southern by 3.7% during the first quarter. Silver Oak Securities Incorporated now owns 15,489 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,412,000 after purchasing an additional 558 shares during the period. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Wall Street Analyst Weigh In

A number of brokerages have weighed in on SO. KeyCorp increased their target price on shares of Southern from $78.00 to $87.00 and gave the stock an “underweight” rating in a research report on Wednesday, October 15th. 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 report on Friday, October 10th. LADENBURG THALM/SH SH reiterated a “neutral” rating and set a $102.50 target price (up previously from $99.50) on shares of Southern in a research report on Friday, October 17th. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price target on shares of Southern in a report on Friday, October 3rd. Finally, BMO Capital Markets increased their price target on shares of Southern from $98.00 to $102.00 and gave the stock an “outperform” rating in a report on Tuesday, July 22nd. One analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have given a Hold rating and one has given a Sell rating to the company’s stock. According to data from MarketBeat.com, the stock has an average rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.66.

Southern Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of Southern stock opened at $94.20 on Friday. The company’s 50-day moving average price is $94.28 and its 200-day moving average price is $92.48. The company has a market cap of $103.62 billion, a price-to-earnings ratio of 24.21, a PEG ratio of 3.31 and a beta of 0.43. The company has a current ratio of 0.74, a quick ratio of 0.54 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69. Southern Company has a 12-month low of $80.46 and a 12-month high of $100.83.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its earnings results on Thursday, October 30th. The utilities provider reported $1.60 earnings per share for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.51 by $0.09. The business had revenue of $7.82 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.04 billion. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. Southern’s quarterly revenue was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. During the same period last year, the firm posted $1.39 earnings per share. Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.300-4.30 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.540-0.540 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 business also recently announced a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Monday, December 8th. Investors of record on Monday, November 17th will be paid a $0.74 dividend. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Monday, November 17th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) 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.