Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. Cuts Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Sumitomo Life Insurance Co. reduced its holdings in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO) by 6.4% in the second quarter, according to its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 16,827 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 1,141 shares during the period. Sumitomo Life Insurance Co.’s holdings in Southern were worth $1,545,000 as of its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission.

A number of other institutional investors and hedge funds have also made changes to their positions in the business. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 19.5% in the 2nd quarter. Frederick Financial Consultants LLC now owns 2,783 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $256,000 after buying an additional 454 shares in the last quarter. Longbow Finance SA purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth $6,752,000. Atlas Private Wealth Advisors purchased a new position in shares of Southern in the 2nd quarter worth $207,000. Lifeworks Advisors LLC grew its stake in shares of Southern by 1.9% in the 2nd quarter. Lifeworks Advisors LLC now owns 86,873 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $7,978,000 after buying an additional 1,594 shares in the last quarter. Finally, Syverson Strege & Co grew its stake in shares of Southern by 48.4% in the 2nd quarter. Syverson Strege & Co now owns 6,418 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $589,000 after buying an additional 2,092 shares in the last quarter. 64.10% of the stock is owned by hedge funds and other institutional investors.

Analysts Set New Price Targets

A number of brokerages have commented on SO. Scotiabank reissued a “sector perform” rating and issued a $99.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Friday, October 3rd. BTIG Research assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Tuesday, October 21st. They set a “neutral” rating for the company. Wells Fargo & Company assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Monday, October 27th. They set an “equal weight” rating and a $97.00 price target for the company. Mizuho lifted their price target 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. Finally, TD Cowen assumed coverage on shares of Southern in a research note on Thursday, October 16th. They set a “buy” rating and a $112.00 price target for the company. One research analyst has rated the stock with a Strong Buy rating, six have issued a Buy rating, eleven have issued a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, Southern has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $99.66.

Southern Trading Down 0.9%

Shares of SO opened at $94.20 on Monday. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $80.46 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The company has a 50-day moving average of $94.28 and a 200 day moving average of $92.49. The firm has a market capitalization 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 debt-to-equity ratio of 1.69, a current ratio of 0.74 and a quick ratio of 0.54.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last announced its quarterly earnings data 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. Southern had a net margin of 15.10% and a return on equity of 12.09%. The company had revenue of $7.82 billion during the quarter, compared to analyst estimates of $8.04 billion. During the same quarter last year, the business posted $1.39 EPS. The firm’s revenue for the quarter was up 7.5% on a year-over-year basis. Southern has set its FY 2025 guidance at 4.300-4.30 EPS. Q4 2025 guidance at 0.540-0.540 EPS. On average, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.29 EPS for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The business also recently disclosed 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 is Monday, November 17th. This represents a $2.96 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.1%. Southern’s dividend payout ratio (DPR) is presently 73.27%.

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.