Southern (NYSE:SO) Issues Q1 2025 Earnings Guidance

Southern (NYSE:SO) issued an update on its first quarter 2025 earnings guidance on Thursday morning. The company provided EPS guidance of 1.200-1.200 for the period, compared to the consensus EPS estimate of 1.150. The company issued revenue guidance of -. Southern also updated its FY 2025 guidance to 4.200-4.300 EPS.

Analyst Upgrades and Downgrades

A number of brokerages recently commented on SO. Morgan Stanley dropped their price objective on shares of Southern from $88.00 to $85.00 and set an “equal weight” rating on the stock in a report on Friday, November 22nd. Scotiabank lifted their price target on shares of Southern from $96.00 to $98.00 and gave the company a “sector outperform” rating in a research note on Thursday, December 12th. Guggenheim lowered shares of Southern from a “buy” rating to a “neutral” rating in a research note on Thursday, January 23rd. BMO Capital Markets decreased their price objective on shares of Southern from $99.00 to $97.00 and set an “outperform” rating for the company in a research report on Friday, November 1st. Finally, Mizuho lifted their price objective on shares of Southern from $83.00 to $85.00 and gave the company a “neutral” rating in a research report on Monday, February 3rd. One equities research analyst has rated the stock with a sell rating, nine have given a hold rating and five have given a buy rating to the stock. According to data from MarketBeat, the stock presently has a consensus rating of “Hold” and an average price target of $89.79.

Southern Stock Performance

NYSE SO opened at $86.55 on Thursday. The company has a quick ratio of 0.66, a current ratio of 0.91 and a debt-to-equity ratio of 1.66. The company has a market capitalization of $94.83 billion, a P/E ratio of 20.13, a P/E/G ratio of 2.93 and a beta of 0.53. Southern has a 12-month low of $65.99 and a 12-month high of $94.45. The firm has a 50-day moving average price of $83.50 and a two-hundred day moving average price of $86.80.

Southern (NYSE:SO) last posted its quarterly earnings data on Thursday, February 20th. The utilities provider reported $0.50 earnings per share (EPS) for the quarter, missing analysts’ consensus estimates of $0.51 by ($0.01). Southern had a net margin of 17.87% and a return on equity of 12.78%. Analysts anticipate that Southern will post 4.05 earnings per share for the current year.

Southern Dividend Announcement

The firm also recently disclosed a quarterly dividend, which will be paid on Thursday, March 6th. Shareholders of record on Tuesday, February 18th will be issued a $0.72 dividend. This represents a $2.88 dividend on an annualized basis and a yield of 3.33%. The ex-dividend date of this dividend is Tuesday, February 18th. Southern’s dividend payout ratio is currently 66.98%.

Insider Activity

In other news, CEO James Jeffrey Peoples sold 14,540 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Tuesday, February 11th. The shares were sold at an average price of $86.00, for a total value of $1,250,440.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the chief executive officer now directly owns 13,236 shares in the company, valued at approximately $1,138,296. The trade was a 52.35 % decrease in their position. The sale was disclosed in a filing with the Securities & Exchange Commission, which can be accessed through this hyperlink. Also, EVP Martin Bernard Davis sold 1,170 shares of the business’s stock in a transaction that occurred on Thursday, December 5th. The shares were sold at an average price of $85.90, for a total transaction of $100,503.00. Following the completion of the transaction, the executive vice president now owns 88,393 shares of the company’s stock, valued at $7,592,958.70. The trade was a 1.31 % decrease in their ownership of the stock. The disclosure for this sale can be found here. Corporate insiders own 0.18% of the company’s stock.

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.