Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund Cuts Stock Holdings in Southern Company (The) $SO

Posted by Stanley Muller on Jul 16th, 2026

Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund lowered its stake in Southern Company (The) (NYSE:SO – Free Report) by 8.8% during the 1st quarter, according to the company in its most recent filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission. The institutional investor owned 288,614 shares of the utilities provider’s stock after selling 27,880 shares during the quarter. Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund’s holdings in Southern were worth $27,857,000 as of its most recent SEC filing.

Other hedge funds and other institutional investors have also made changes to their positions in the company. Uptick Partners LLC grew its position in shares of Southern by 1.5% during the first quarter. Uptick Partners LLC now owns 7,601 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $734,000 after purchasing an additional 110 shares in the last quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 2.4% in the first quarter. Seelaus Asset Management LLC now owns 4,923 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $475,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC lifted its position in shares of Southern by 0.7% in the fourth quarter. Stokes Family Office LLC now owns 15,994 shares of the utilities provider’s stock worth $1,395,000 after buying an additional 115 shares in the last quarter. Leonteq Securities AG boosted its stake in Southern by 4.7% during the first quarter. Leonteq Securities AG now owns 2,657 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $256,000 after buying an additional 119 shares during the last quarter. Finally, Accredited Investors Inc. boosted its stake in Southern by 5.2% during the fourth quarter. Accredited Investors Inc. now owns 2,446 shares of the utilities provider’s stock valued at $213,000 after buying an additional 120 shares during the last quarter. Institutional investors own 64.10% of the company’s stock.

Southern Trading Down 1.4%

Shares of NYSE SO opened at $94.59 on Thursday. The business’s 50 day moving average is $94.05 and its two-hundred day moving average is $93.33. The company has a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.68, a current ratio of 0.65 and a quick ratio of 0.45. Southern Company has a 1-year low of $83.80 and a 1-year high of $100.83. The stock has a market capitalization of $106.63 billion, a P/E ratio of 24.07, a PEG ratio of 2.90 and a beta of 0.34.

Southern (NYSE:SO – Get Free Report) last issued its quarterly earnings data on Wednesday, April 29th. The utilities provider reported $1.32 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, beating analysts’ consensus estimates of $1.21 by $0.11. The business had revenue of $8.40 billion for the quarter, compared to the consensus estimate of $8.07 billion. Southern had a return on equity of 12.64% and a net margin of 14.46%.The company’s quarterly revenue was up 8.0% compared to the same quarter last year. During the same period in the prior year, the business posted $1.23 earnings per share. As a group, research analysts expect that Southern Company will post 4.57 EPS for the current year.

Southern Increases Dividend

The business also recently declared a quarterly dividend, which was paid on Monday, June 8th. Investors of record on Monday, May 18th were issued a dividend of $0.76 per share. This represents a $3.04 annualized dividend and a yield of 3.2%. The ex-dividend date was Monday, May 18th. This is a boost from Southern’s previous quarterly dividend of $0.74. Southern’s payout ratio is currently 77.35%.

Analyst Ratings Changes

A number of analysts have issued reports on the company. Morgan Stanley reaffirmed an “underweight” rating and issued a $89.00 price objective on shares of Southern in a research note on Wednesday, June 24th. Truist Financial lowered their target price on Southern from $103.00 to $100.00 and set a “hold” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, May 29th. Seaport Research Partners lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a report on Monday, April 20th. Weiss Ratings upgraded shares of Southern from a “buy (b-)” rating to a “buy (b)” rating in a research report on Friday, May 1st. Finally, Barclays reduced their price target on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $98.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a research report on Thursday, June 18th. Seven analysts have rated the stock with a Buy rating, twelve have assigned a Hold rating and one has assigned a Sell rating to the company. Based on data from MarketBeat, Southern presently has an average rating of “Hold” and an average target price of $99.26.

View Our Latest Analysis on Southern

About Southern

(Free Report)

Southern Company (NYSE: SO) is an Atlanta-based energy holding company that provides electric and gas utility services and owns power generation assets across the United States. Founded in 1945, the company operates a portfolio of regulated electric utilities and affiliated businesses that generate, transmit and distribute electricity to residential, commercial and industrial customers.

Southern’s principal regulated electric subsidiaries include Georgia Power, Alabama Power and Mississippi Power, which serve large portions of the southeastern United States.